Lori & Eoghan's PJ/TR -5/1/09 SBP/Jiko/Morocco-TR updated 11/2 Dessert Party w/pics!

[Lorelei528]

TR starts on page 4 :)



Hi all! I will obviously have to edit this a lot as I'm starting my PJ with my first dress appt! But for now that is all I'm going to post and will fill in a bit as I go (hope that's ok!)

Anyway, all my other dress appts are scheduled for late July and into AUG but a few weeks ago I was in The Palisades Center (the 2nd biggest mall in the country I'm told)..which is over by my mom's house when I went to bring my e-ring back after one of the diamond chips fell out :( And I was there all by myself and I said to myself.."Self, let's just go take a look in that Camille store just to see what bridal gowns actually look like in real life"...

Turns out I saw a few dresses I liked and the prices were pretty good. I saw this one dress I really liked a lot, in fact I liked it so much I called my mom from my cell and asked her to come over to the mall to look with me. She came over and we looked around but I didn't try any on. I decided to make an appt so I could come back with my SIL, my mom and my DN(niece) who is also my MOH....

Well, the appt was tonight!! It was fun!! :yay: I tried on the 3 dresses I still liked from when I was in previously and the first one I tried on was the one I really liked (photos to come later- how do you do it again?) and of course, I didn't like it at all on me!! :rotfl:
http://photopost.wdwinfo.com/data/500/111411notgoodCamillegown-thumb.jpg
I tried on a couple of others and I found one I like, but I didn't get the "WOW"...but I did really like it and everyone with me liked it on me too. So, I will keep that one in mind when i go next month to my other appts. http://photopost.wdwinfo.com/data/500/111411nicegownatCamille2-thumb.jpg

I'm realizing this post is not that exciting after all! But I was excited and now I understand what all you guys are talking about when you post about dress shopping!!

I put a tiara on too that I liked a lot (I'm planning on going with a tiara) but I don't know about a veil yet.:confused: The one the lady had me try on I did not like but I just started so we'll see..

I will have to backtrack like I said but I kept procrastinating about the PJ and figured this was as good a time as any to start it!

I actually have lots to tell you all! ::yes::

[lov2b@disney]

Enjoy your dress shopping! Looking forward to hearing about your plans!:goodvibes

[29apr00]

Congrats!! Can't wait to hear all about your plans!

[Lorelei528]

This adding pics thing is pretty easy after all!! :yay:

Except i see the ones I added of the dresses are kind of small, huh? You can't really see the details or anything...hmmm...

I'll have to work on it a bit more, but I know it's hard to give opinions and thoughts if you can't see anything visually...

more to come shortly!

[Lorelei528]

Ok, all so I tried writing this once before starting with the “How we Met”…but it was just way too wordy and detailed and became way too long before I had even really said anything! It’s funny, because these PJ’s and TR’s are totally something I would do on my own, but now doing it where other people can see it, I think I get intimidated or something. Even the last time I went to the World (Nov 2003) I had planned on doing a TR for another board, but just couldn’t get my head around it…
But since I see how the PJs and TRs really help the brides to be, I am more motivated to make myself write one! Although I posted briefly about my first dress appt, I will try to backtrack now a bit and give you all some background…
Eoghan is obsessed with football and by football, I don’t mean the NFL…he’s from Ireland so whenever I might refer to football, it means soccer (here in the US)
And everytime I get a little annoyed that he’s been watching 6 hours of football (literally in a row!) for two days or whatnot (Thanks Fox Soccer Channel!) Eoghan reminds me that if it weren’t for football we never would have met!! I then shut up very quickly because I realize he is 110% correct!
I love football too actually. Without going into too much detail (or this will end up being just like the first PJ I started) I can tell you that we met at Nevada Smith’s in NYC which is a world famous football pub on a Saturday. http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/HomeawayfromHomeforweb.jpgActually it was Saturday March 24, 2007. So, yeah, we haven’t been together as long as a lot of you I know, but when it happens, it happens.
I got to the pub around 10:30am. I was there with my friend Karma http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/karmaandme.jpg(yes, that’s her real name, how cool is that?) There were many games being played that day due to it being Euro qualifiers. The games I was most interested in were Ireland playing Wales and England playing Israel. The Ireland game started at 11am. There weren’t too many people at the bar for this game and I remember seeing someone who looked…well, sickly actually, very pale, very thin wearing a winter coat inside. This turned out to be Eoghan! LOL It turns out he was out the night before ‘till very late and just basically rolled out of bed and came on down to Nevada’s! (That’s pretty common actually with all the early starts as the games are shown live from England or other European countries).
Anyway, I won’t get in to the details of how we started talking but I will say it was during the England game. I will also tell you the place was PACKED :crowded: from about 1pm until 8pm when we left. To this day, it was probably one of the most fun times I have ever had. Eoghan and I met around 2:30pm or so and we stayed out until almost 3am the next morning!
One of the ways I can sum up the day I met Eoghan is when I woke up on Sunday I realized I hadn’t laughed that much in a LONG time and then actually said out loud…”He made me laugh for like 12 hours straight!” :lmao: It made me realize how much I really liked him and wanted to see him again. :lovestruc It was actually kind of cathartic and when I woke up I felt free and not weighed down by anything that had been bothering me or making me depressed for like the previous 2 years!!
Eoghan had taken my number and had given me his red Gap hoodie to wear because silly me who wasn’t planning on staying out much past 5 or 6pm, didn’t bring a jacket and it got pretty darn cold out! So, anyway, Sunday and Monday came and went and he didn’t call me. :sad1: Oh well, I thought, maybe he’s not interested in me after all. Who the heck knows these days really, you know? :confused: Anyway, before I went home that night I told him I would return his hoodie the next Saturday as we would both be out at Nevada’s to watch the English Premier League games. Well, Tuesday afternoon comes around and he calls me! I told him I didn’t think he was going to call…so it was pretty funny, he said he actually called me to tell me not to bring his hoodie out the next day (as I wasn’t working at the time and was going out to watch more Euro qualifiers again-Ireland and England) because he couldn’t go because he had to work. I kept telling him I knew that and that’s why we said I would bring it out next Saturday…he told me later (and still does to this day) he knew we arranged that, but he was using it as an excuse to call me!) tee hee. We talked for a bit and all of a sudden it was like he wanted to see me right away, it was funny and made me feel good. :goodvibes But I had already made plans with a gf for that night…he kind of invited himself along which was actually ok with me…but as it turned out, he got stuck at work out in the Hamptons and he couldn’t meet me out, but he texted me all night and we talked on the phone for hours when we both got home later that night.
During the conversations, he divulged that he was not going to work the next day after all because of the big mess up the night before so he was going to go out to watch the Ireland game. So we decided I’d pick him up on the way downtown and we’d go for an Irish Breakfast before the game and watch it with a few people at another pub. After that we went to Nevada’s to watch the last half of the England game. Where he asked me if he could introduce me as his girlfriend! I laughed and said I guess so even though we really just met (Secretly I felt like a teenager again, he was too cute!) That day (March 28th) we consider our dating anniversary.
We didn’t see each other until Saturday and we went to a concert at Webster Hall. The concert wasn’t very good, but we had a nice time and got some food afterwards at this yummy Asian place called Republic in Union Square. The next day at breakfast Eoghan said to me “…well, like if we’re still together 8 or 9 months down the road, I could see us living together…” :scared1: It totally freaked me out to be honest with you…..but he didn’t say it in a creepy way, he was actually being honest and seemed very happy that we had met.
Well, that’s the story of how we met and started dating anyway….see, to me it seems so boring when I read it, it makes me not want to post it…but I realize if I don’t start posting it, before I know it we’ll be having our Disney Wedding and I won’t be able to get any feedback or anything from all my fellow DISBrides!

Next installment: A Bit About Us

[Lorelei528]

So, what can I tell you about us? (Besides that we love football and obviously a pint or two! :drinking1 LOL)

Well, I’m basically a born and bred New Yorker, growing up about 11 miles north of NYC. I went to Syracuse University and ended up living in Syracuse for 7 years! I loved it there and still do. I worked in the fashion industry for more than 10 years, but finally had enough and am now just doing admin work. Right now I’m at a pharmaceutical company.

Eoghan is from Co. Laois Ireland and has been in the US since Nov. 2001. He works for a moving company. His whole family (Mom, Dad and brother) is back in Ireland. I have met them as they have been over twice since we’ve been together and so far so good (except for some wedding planning stuff will I will get to in another post!)

So, this is a bit amusing….the night Eoghan and I met the age topic came up (as it does) and I think he told me I looked about 25! I think by Wednesday he was up to 28 and by Saturday it was 30! (He at the time was 29)….I was deathly afraid to tell him I was 39!! :scared: I always have dated younger guys, but usually only 3 or 4 years the most. I don’t know why, but even my first boyfriend was 13 and I was 14!

When Eoghan told me the last woman he was in a relationship with was like 10 years older than him, I felt much better and blurted out…well, so am I! (It went something like that anyway!)

Neither of us think it’s a problem or an issue though and since we have gotten together, I have found out that although it might not be that common or that we’re in the minority, it definitely does happen. A co-worker of mine just yesterday told me she is 11 years older than her husband! Hmph! What do you know? So, now it’s not an issue really at all, we’ve been together long enough to know and we have talked about it as well.

So, Eoghan and I like all (well, not all, but almost all) of the same music, which is a big thing for both of us, as we both have decided previously we couldn’t be with someone who didn’t know about music…For instance I went out with this guy a couple of times and the first time we were in my car going up to the movies, I had the new Keane CD on and I was totally thinking -ok, I’m hoping for him to say-“oh, is this the new Keane?” or “so, what’s this CD then?” etc..you get what I mean I’m sure…but he didn’t say a thing!!! I knew right then and there it wouldn’t work out. The first few months Eoghan and I were together we were going to like at least a show/gig a week! Once we had 3 in one week! This got expensive and tiring pretty quickly though, so we’ve cut down on the concerts a bit.

So, anyway, the Disney thing…sometimes it’s tough to tell people, you know? You never know how they’re going to take it. Especially those that don’t really have any Disney experience, let alone those that have just never been to the parks.

I have had a lot of punk rock friends and they see it as too establishment. I try to explain the design and art but they still can’t get past the mighty $...


To be honest with you, I’m not really sure how it came out with Eoghan….but he learned it pretty early on and though he didn’t know to what extent I really loved all things Disney, he seemed to try to understand and accept it (and me!):yay:

Next up: Moving in, deciding to get married……

[DecemberBride]

Hold out for the right one, absolutely! ::yes::

[JonetteA]

That is a great story on your meeting. Don't pick a dress if you don't have that "Wow" this is the one for me. Hold out for the right one. There are so many options, just have faith that you will find the right one.

[Lynn5700]

HI Lori!!!! Just wanted to say congrats on your upcoming wedding!! Can't wait to hear about all your plans :)

BTW you remind me of Carly from American Idol.

[Lorelei528]

Thanks all for the nice wishes!!
I know it's been a long time since I have updated this and I still am well behind in the actual PJ writing..but here goes:

So flash forward a bit. I had been in my apartment for like 10 years and was absolutely sick of it and my landlord. I didn’t like going to Eoghan’s place plus he spent a lot of time in mine anyway…we started to look for a place. It didn’t take too long really, we found a place we liked that we could afford, has off-street parking and where pets were allowed (I have a cat-McCormack) http://photopost.wdwinfo.com/data/500/111411McCormack-thumb.jpgAnd we wanted to get a dog (which we did) Shannon http://photopost.wdwinfo.com/data/500/111411shannonforweb-thumb.jpg We moved in on April 1. :banana:

Flash back a bit with me if you will….after I knew Eoghan really understood my Disney thing…I started talking about a trip there…he pretty much seemed interested right away. :thumbsup2 We booked a trip back in like OCT 07. We’re staying at POP (I’ve never stayed there before) for 4 nights and then moving to AKL (my fave-have stayed there before) for 6 nights from Sept. 26-Oct. 5

Flash forward again…without going into too much detail…we had already been discussing marriage for a little while. Due to immigration issues and talking to many people familiar with our type of situation, we decided to get married sooner rather than later in a simple civil ceremony and then plan a Disney Wedding for sometime in the future. :bride: :groom: To be honest with you, I’m still surprised that Eoghan agreed with me so easily, but he says he wants me to have the wedding that will make me happy. :love2:

Some background-It’s funny how things change as you get older. When I was about 19 I thought I’d get married at around 28 and wanted the whole, big, typical wedding, 150 guests, catering hall etc. etc.. I got to be 29 or so and ended up spending 7 years in an unhealthy, abusive relationship…but as I got older and had been to Jamaica three times and had seen some weddings there, I decided I much rather get married there with like 9 people or so. Realistically I realized with my last boyfriend (before Eoghan- who also coincidentally had immigration issues) that a Jamaica wedding wouldn’t be doable…so I began to think about places to go in the US…I came up with Las Vegas and Disney World…I think I didn’t even knew at the time that Disney had weddings and I came across it as a fluke on some internet search. Originally I liked the Disney Cruise idea but again, immigration issues….

So, it was kind of then and there (like 3 years ago) I decided I really wanted a Disney Wedding! It was perfect for me!! Because…..

My Disneyworld history-

OOH!! Backtrack again!!! Sorry!! My first trip to WDW was back in like 76 or 77 or so…it was me, one of my older brothers, my mom and my dad. We were going down to Florida for something else I think and my dad said something like “oh and we can go check out that new Disney Park as well” I can still remember he seemed pretty excited and I liked seeing my dad that way even as a 9 year old. It seemed important to him to be able to bring us there. I remember telling him I’d rather go to the original Disneyland first as it’s the original, but he said that this one is supposed to be better. (I still haven’t been to DL, but will someday). We stayed at The Contemporary which I thought was sooo cool with the monorail going through it. At the time the only resorts were the Contemporary, the Poly and the Golf Resort thing… I know we had the tickets with the letters, I can remember that clear as day. I can remember my brother going on Space Mountain and my mother freaking out and being all scared and nervous for him because he had a metal rod and pins in his leg from a car accident. (My brother was like 20 at the time, but that’s the way my mom is, and she’s much worse now as she’s 83!) Anyway, so my mom insisted on waiting for my brother somewhere near the exit or something as she wanted to watch him on the ride and I can remember even then the CM’s being so sweet and understanding and telling her where she could stand and wait and be able to see him (or something like that)….meanwhile, my dad and I (keep in mind I was daddy’s little girl) went on the TTA (which back then had a different name, right?) I loved going on that with my dad. It was nice and relaxing and it was the only time in the parks where it was just me and him. To this day I always go on it to honor my dad and take time out to think about him…(ok, I’m crying a little bit right now, sorry) :(

My second trip to WDW happened as kind of a fluke.

I was in my sophomore year at Syracuse. :cheer2: My parents had gone down to Florida to visit some friends and family. Something happened and they got bumped or something from their flight. My dad freaked out and demanded something be done. :furious: (My dad was in sales and he knew what was right with dealing with customers etc…he was very good that way. And yay for me, I kind of inherited that from him, I have gotten free upgrades to first class on one flight home from Jamaica and one flight down to WDW)…Anyway, somehow my dad got two free RT tickets to anywhere in the continental US. During their trip to Florida, my parents went to check out Epcot (which I think had just/recently opened?):confused: When they got back they told me how much I’d like it. First I was jealous because I was dying to go back to WDW and it had been like 10 years!! But I was unsure of Epcot, to me WDW was all about the MK. (Can you see I have something about the original versions of things? :rotfl: ) So, my parents decided my mom would take me down for like 3 days over my spring break. I think they originally said 2 days but I said I would only go if I could go to MK as well. (Now that I think about it, it’s funny right? My parents are taking me to WDW and I’m bargaining with them? :lmao: ) How funny 19 year olds can be! The thing was (and to this day I don’t really understand it) but they said we would be staying off property since we got the tickets for free they wanted to keep the cost of the trip down…I was thinking, well, if we’re getting the tickets for free, then we should be able to spend the $ on hotels on property, but it was their $, so that was that. The trip was fun…I don’t remember much of it really to be honest with you…it was weird being with just my mom for days as I don’t think we had ever been just me and her for such a period of time. I got along better with my dad…But I do remember Figment!! :figment: I think he was my favourite thing about that whole trip!

Next trip came in ’97 I think. My dad had passed away in ’95 and the guy I thought I was going to marry basically broke up with me a few months before my dad’s death. I felt like I was sleepwalking through life. I couldn’t snap out of it. I don’t remember why Disneyworld came to mind but it did. I knew that a trip there would help me. I mentioned it to my mom who wasn’t very sure about it. First of all even though she really likes WDW, she didn’t understand why we should go there again. Secondly, she thought it was too soon after my dad died. Somehow I managed to talk her into it. I knew it would help me feel better about things and life in general and remind me that I was still alive and healthy and I could be happy. I was hoping it would make her a bit happy as well if even for a short time. She brought one of her closest friends (who was basically an aunt to me). We stayed at the Disney Village Villas or something…we had a great time! I think it was with this trip it was confirmed in my heart that it was such a special place to me. I really do believe in the Disney Magic. pixiedust: Though I still think about my dad all the time, that trip help give me a little push I needed.

It was a few years later when I started getting that itch again..I know you guys get it too…I needed to go. Again, I convinced my mom! This time she brought another one of her friends. We stayed at CBR. I really like that resort! Keep in mind this was only 2 months after 9/11 and things felt strange in the world. I remember we were having lunch in Biergarten (another tradition of mine) when the waitress asked us where we were from and when we told her NYCish, she said, “oh, have you heard there was a plane crash in NYC…” The 3 of us immediately thought terrorist attack. :worried: It turned not to be, but I’ll never forget that feeling of being so far away from home at such a time, not really knowing what was going on. I felt disconnected.


My last trip to WDW was in 2003 with my ex…..let’s leave it at that, shall we? I will say that after that relationship ended I was worried that my special place would be tainted for me, I worried for a long time actually…but as time went on and with every trip to the Disney Store I felt the magic come back to me little by little. Now, years later I cannot wait to show my favouritest place in the world to my Eoghan in Sept and I especially cannot wait to share our special day with our families in the most magical of places on May 1 of 2009!!! :jumping1:


Next up: Weddings and Disney Magic in NYC!!!!

[keenercam]

Oh, WOW! I am so hooked on your PJ! Your story is so wonderful and I am so glad you and Eoghan have found each other. I really can't wait to read more. :goodvibes

[Lorelei528]

Well, now that I'm about 2 months behind in posting this!! Man, time flies when you're planning a Disney Wedding! (And Disney vacation in 5 weeks!).....

Here goes:

So, we decided to go get our marriage license on May 22 (because I was taking that day off of work anyway to try out for Millionaire-which I ended up not doing) and then we picked June 20 as the day we would have our civil ceremony (or as someone at work said, getting your driver’s licesnse-because that is exactly what it’s like!). We picked June 20th because of two things. 1) We were going to see The Cure that night at Madison Square Garden, :rockband: so it was already a special thing and 2) it’s my parents anniversary.


Getting the license was easy!! Almost too easy…afterwards we got lunch at one of the Burger Heavens in mid-town http://www.burgerheaven.com/images/location_53street.jpgand then I bought Eoghan a new cell phone…

Since we thought of ourselves as engaged and we were going to be married within the next month, it was important to me (for some reason) to have an engagement ring…I knew we were past the point of Eoghan really proposing and until we found the ring, it might even have only been a couple of weeks before we were married, but it was still important to me. I decided for some reason I didn’t want a diamond. As my best friend said, “well, you are unconventional” and my sister in law said “When have you done anything ordinary?” So, I decided on an Emerald. We looked and looked. We didn’t have the $ at the time to get anything major but I couldn’t find anything I liked. 1) We really didn’t know where to look. 2) I only wanted White Gold, not Yellow Gold. 3) Emeralds are not so popular, so there’s not a great selection unless you want to order something or whatnot. Because it was convienent, we looked at the stores in one mall and then another. I saw something that we were actually going to buy but I didn’t really like it. Eoghan said, you know I rather spend a bit more money on something you are going to really like than just buy something to buy something. We had one more store to check…Whitehall. I guess it was coincidence that I chose Emerald being the May birthstone, otherwise it might have even been tougher to find something.

Well, imagine my happiness when there at Whitehall I found a ring that was unlike any of the others I had seen so far! It’s an emerald cut emerald, but it’s set horizontally, there are some diamond chips on either side and it’s set in White Gold. The ring is modern looking I think which is what I wanted. It’s so weird, because as soon as I saw it, I felt like it was mine. http://photopost.wdwinfo.com/data/747/111411eringforweb.jpg

(Sorry for the crappy picture, it was the best I could get for some reason and the ring is not pictured on-line anywhere that I can find)


So, of course it had to be resized as it was too big which would take 5 days and then as I posted elsewhere, after having it for only 5 days, one of the chips fell out, so by the time it was fixed, yes, I only had it for a couple of weeks before our civil ceremony!

Our civil ceremony gave me a hint of what wedding stress might be like….and there really wasn’t too much to plan! First of all, originally Eoghan and I just wanted Karma to be our witness (because it was because of her that we actually met!) And this would have been fine, but after talking to our lawyer we were told it’s good to have pictures of family members at your ceremony. So it ended up that my mom, both of my brothers, one of my sister in laws, one of my nieces (also my MOH at Disney Wedding), Karma and my cousin (who works near city hall) would be at our ceremony!

Sometime in May Eoghan and I had an argument and I went shopping! I just went up to the local TJMaxx to look. I decided to try on some dresses for the summer. Ironically I found one White one that I could use for the civil ceremony I had thought. Angrily I thought, watch, it will be the only dress that fits and that I like…sure enough!!!! I went in with like 8 dresses and it was the only one I liked and that fit! :mad: Well then, I guess someone’s trying to tell me something….I bought it and went home to Eoghan. :hug:

Planning for the civil ceremony was fairly easy actually. I had already ordered our wedding rings on-line as we didn’t want to get anything too expensive for right now and will get better rings for the Disney Wedding. I think I am going to try and get my mom’s diamond wedding band fixed so I can wear it. I have tried it on and it actually looks really good with the e-ring! Our wedding bands are sterling silver and are inscribed with “I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine” in Gaelic. http://www.sapphirelane.com/IMAGES/ST136R-STG.jpg
In this pic I think they're shown in yellow gold however...
I knew I would wear my White patent leather maryjanes that I had already because the dress has kind of a retro feel to it. It’s above the knee, A-line with a wide satin collar and little puffy sleeves. The lace is cool. It’s like big polka dot, like a cotton lace. The dress has a flesh-tone liner. I would order a bouquet from the local florist (I wasn’t even going to have flowers but when we went to get our license, I saw a couple of brides with little bouquets and thought…”I want a bouquet!!” :flower3: I would get my hair done the night before at my usual place. I found a little satin bag to carry. I needed to get Eoghan his outfit though. He had nice shoes to wear that I had bought him previously, but he needed a shirt, tie and pants…the only other thing I needed to do was find a place for us all to eat/have lunch.

Eoghan actually came out shopping with me one day and we found a very nice shirt, tie and pants. After talking to my SIL, we decided we’d go to Aleo’s on 20th Street. http://images.nymag.com/listings/restaurant/mainaleo.jpgWe have been there before so we know the food is good and they have a back garden we could sit in…http://www.aleorestaurant.com/images/gardenb1.jpgit really looked like it was going to be the day I wanted it to be! :yay:

Eoghan and I decided to take the Metro North train in to Grand Central instead of the subway the whole way. (Even though we would take the subway from GCT to City Hall!) It would just be a nicer ride for our special day I thought. The morning came and we got ready…Eoghan came out of the bedroom in his outfit and I was impressed! :lovestruc I had never even seen him in a shirt and tie before! He looked great! I was running late, so he walked up to the florist and got me my flowers:love2: …we left soon after he got back. We walked to the train station and got out tickets from the machine. I wondered out loud to Eoghan if he thought people knew I was a bride to be….because you know, I was wearing a white dress and carrying flowers! Karma was going to meet us at GCT at 10:20am and then take the subway down with us where we would meet my family. By the time we found everyone it took a little while and in the meantime I had seen a few brides, some of whom were dressed to the nines! I thought I looked so cute and stuff until I saw them, but when we got upstairs, I felt better about my choice of garb for the day.

Anyway, so we all entered the building, all showed our ids and went through the metal detectors…

It was a really nice day, Sunny with a little wind about 80 degrees or so.

We went upstairs and Eoghan and I led the way even though we had been there before for our license, we actually weren’t sure about where to go to actually get married and all the signs said license!) Basically we just went in the same office where we went to get our license. We signed some form (both our hands were shaking!) and Karma signed it too, then we went to another line and handed it in, then we went to another window to pay our $25. Then it was into another room with a sign CHAPEL outside. It was actually just a waiting room that you had to wait in before you got called in to where the clerk would marry you. At first we were all excited, we took lots of pictures and there weren’t that many couples waiting. You could see the Brooklyn Bridge out the window which was cool. The thing that kind of sucked was we probably got into the waiting room about 11:15 or so and then the clerk took her lunch at 11:30!! So we had to wait for her to come back and meanwhile all these other couples and their families were coming in…the excitement wore off while we were waiting, it was getting a bit annoying…Eoghan and I were both like..we just want to get it over with already! (that doesn’t sound right though LOL)

Finally the clerk came back from lunch at around noon and we were the first names she called!!! :cool1: We all got up and went in and the ceremony went like this: “….is there anyone here who knows of any legal reason why these two cannot be married?” Everyone in the room replies “no” tee hee. Then it was right into it! “Eoghan, do you take Lori to be your lawful wedded wife?” “I do” “Do you have a ring?” “yes” “place the ring on her finger and when you place the ring on her finger……(I don’t even remember what she said it was so fast!) then she said the same thing to me, then “You may kiss the bride”, we kissed and that was that! I swear, 2 mins. Tops! When we excited the room, my brother started clapping and cheering so the whole roomful of couples and families followed along and started clapping and cheering! :yay: :yay: :yay: That was really cool and I felt so happy I can’t even explain it!! :cloud9:
This was taken when we walked out of the room to all the clapping and cheering-
http://photopost.wdwinfo.com/data/500/111411immediatelyaftergettinghitc.jpg

We went outside and took more pics. http://photopost.wdwinfo.com/data/500/111411welovenyc-6-20-08.jpghttp://photopost.wdwinfo.com/data/500/111411theweddingpic.jpgThen we all hopped in cabs and headed to the restaurant. My cousin had to go back to work. :sad1:



We sat outside at a long table. I sat at the head! Eoghan was on one side and Karma on my other. My mom sat next to Eoghan. It got pretty hot but they had umbrellas that we sat under. We ordered champagne and had some brief toasts. I’m normally not a champagne lover, but this was really good! I have to find out what it was…the owner of the restaurant is a client of my brother’s so he sent over some antipasti platters (mmm). Karma and I shared a salad and some pasta. (I didn’t have much of an appetite). Eoghan had a Caeser salad and Chicken Marsala. For dessert the owner sent over fruit plates and Eoghan and shared an Iced Latte and 2 scoops of gelato (1 Chocolate and 1 Hazelnut) It was sooo yummy!! From there, my family left to go home, Karma had to stop by her office and Eoghan and I hopped in a cab up to…..World of Disney!!!

It had dawned on me a couple of weeks before the wedding to go there afterwards, I thought it would be cool to get our pic taken with a character and tell them we just got married at City Hall and are having a Disney Wedding in May…Eoghan thought it would be neat as well! (phew!)

So, we booked it upstairs in case there was a line, but when we got there, they were in between sessions and we ended up being first on line! The characters that day were Snow White and Dopey!!! Snow is our favourite princess!!!! YES!!! Eoghan thinks she is the prettiest and growing up she was always my favourite because when I was growing up before Jasmine and Belle, Snow was the only princess with dark hair.

When they opened the door we walked right in, I went to put my stuff down (bag and envelope) and the photographer who was very nice started talking to us…”How are you today” Neither of us could hold it in…”We just got married!!” Everyone in the room was saying congratulations to us! We told them how we’re going to Disney in Sept and how we have booked and are planning a Disney Wedding next May 1. Everyone was so happy for us! I don’t know about Eoghan, but I felt like a movie star! All the people on line after us were also saying Congratulations! It was such a nice feeling! After we posed with Dopey, we went over to Snow. On our way over I exclaimed “It’s our favourite princess!!!” In her princess voice, Snow was like…”Ooh, I heard that you have some good news? Did I hear you say you just got married?” “yes” we replied. “oh well then I hope you will put on these bride and groom ears…” Are you kidding, you don’t have to ask me twice!! Even Eoghan put them right on! We took our pics with Snow and then waited outside for our pics after some more Congratulations wishes… http://photopost.wdwinfo.com/data/500/111411which-ones-Dopeyforweb.jpghttp://photopost.wdwinfo.com/data/747/111411welovesnowforweb.jpgWhile we were waiting a CM came over to Eoghan and asked him his name and mine..Eoghan didn’t know why, but the CM reassured him by telling him it was for something fun..it certainly was!! We got a certificate that said Congratulations on your Wedding Day and attached to the top of the certificate were two pins!!! One is the Year of a Million Dreams pin and the other one is Mickey and Minnie in an airplane kissing!

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/111411IMG_0074.jpg
From there we hopped in a pedi-cab, which neither of us had done before, to the closest subway station…we subwayed it home to walk the dog, me to change my shoes and Eoghan to change his clothes…we were home for about 45 mins then we turned back around and went back in to see The Cure play at Madison Square Garden…the show was excellent!! Eoghan had never seen them before and I hadn’t seen them since 1984 or so..they played for like 3 hours and we didn’t get home until after 2am….a long but excellently fabulous wedding day!!!


We spent the weekend registering and watching the Euro Championship…(we have come full circle it seems!)


Next up: Disney wedding stuff…..

[dalepool]

Congratulations. Glad you found a ring you liked :). Emeralds are solf stones and that being the case should never be cleaned in the sonic cleaners in jewlery stores. I really like the wedding bands :). Happily waiting rest of TR.

Patty

[lurkyloo]

You guys are so cute! I love your meeting story and your wedding story - all the stories!

How was the pit at the Cure show? Was there even a pit? I was heavy into punk in high school and college, but the Cure show I saw at Cal Expo in Sacramento had the scariest mosh pit I'd ever been in.....

So, anyway, the Disney thing…sometimes it’s tough to tell people, you know? You never know how they’re going to take it.

YES! I just don't tell most people, or I qualify it with something like "But I like the parks, not the Mickey Mouse underpants!" When I was on my first date with DH he had to drag it out of me - only to turn around and tell me he had an annual pass to Disneyland! :lovestruc

[auntpunkin]

Congratulations! It sounds like you had a wonderful time. I know exactly what you mean with Disney magic, it really does happen!

[29apr00]

what a beautiful story! Can't wait to hear about your plans.

[keenercam]

Oh, Lori, what an absolutely beautiful wedding day you had!! You looked beautiful adnd Eoghan looked so handsome! Love the pix of you both with the characters! :lovestruc Can't wait to hear more!

[Lorelei528]

Ok, so I haven't updated this in like....FOREVER!!!!

But not too much has been happening....I finally got our STD's and placecard holders though which I will post pictures of, and we got my MOH's dress, so will post that as well....but for now.....

MY DRESS CAME IN TODAY!!!!!! It's like a month early!!!

Here it is since I posted it in another thread I think and not here as of yet...

http://photopost.wdwinfo.com/data/500/111411MY_dress1-thumb.jpg

I don't know why the pic is so small...hopefully you can see it ok. I don't have a picture of me in it yet (will get that on Sunday when I go to try it on!):banana: because for some reason we didn't take a pic of me when we found it (I think it was because we actually found it in another store that I didn't want to work with, so we ordered it from somewhere else and the store I tried it on in, the lady made me feel wierd and I don't think we even brought a camera that day either!)

Anyway, it's a Mon Cheri dress and it's called Ophelia.....

So, yep, going to try it on on Sunday and hopefully the headpiece I saw in the shop (and can't find anywhere else) that I really liked is still there and looks good with the dress...

I have found a veil on-line I like, it's a custom job from veilubridal.com...I don't have a picture yet to post, but I will....

I guess that's it for now!!! I'm soooo excited!!!!! I just started working out last night too so by the time I actually have to have my first fitting, maybe I will actually have lost some weight! Cool, how everything comes together sometimes....

[padisneyfour]

WOO HOO! That is so exciting! Congrats!:goodvibes

[camara381]

YaY!!! for getting the dress early!!!!! It looks really pretty in that ity bity picture :)

[Lynn5700]

@

[trudy88]

Can't wait to see the veil too.

[Lorelei528]

Hi everyone!

Lynn-YES!!!! In fact, we are checking in to AKL on the same day as you! So look out for the 2 of us, of course, we'll be wearing.....the EARS!!! tee hee...

I'm actually bummed that you will miss our wedding! I would have totally liked it if you could stalk us from outside the little gazebo area!!! :(



Ok, so I have to learn how to do that multi-quote thing...can someone help me out there please?

So, one of the things Eoghan and I needed to figure out was what other ceremony could we do besides the sand or unity candle one since neither felt like a good fit for us...I did some research and had come up with a handfasting, but all the handfasting ceremonies I could find were very pagan in nature. (I don't have a problem with that, but thought our families and Rev. Miller might)...
I came across a picture of a quaich (not sure of the spelling now actually) which is a Scottish drinking vessel and the more research I did, I found there is also an Irish Loving Cup! So I found a ceremony that made me cry when I read it, showed it to Eoghan and he liked it as well and then contacted Rev. Miller and e-mailed him the wording...he said we could do it!!!:banana:

I'm very excited because it just feels sooooo.....US!

I also like the fact that we can do something Irish since Eoghan's family will be there (well, his mom and dad and brother and two aunts and an uncle anyway) and his mom has already asked me on the phone if American Wedding traditions are the same as Irish...she used the example of old, new borrowed and blue...I told her we do that too, but I'm sure there are some specific Irish customs as well that I'm not aware of...I actually think she wanted there to be some sort of typical American thing to our wedding! :rotfl:

Anyway, here is the wording of the Irish Loving Cup ceremony that we will be doing:

Loving Cup Ceremony
Source: Irish Wedding Traditions by Shannon McMahon Lichte

Officiant/Friend:
On this your wedding day, we celebrate the Celtic spirit of the anam cara. Anam cara is translated from the Gaelic as "soul friend." By entering in a partnership with your anam cara, you are joined in an ancient and eternal way with this person whom you most cherish. In everyone`s life there is a great need for an anam cara and so I ask you to toast one another by repeating the following.

(The Bride and Groom hold the loving cup as they repeat the following)
Bride/Groom:
Today I recognize you, my anam cara
And ask that you become a part of me, in sacred kinship.
With you, I have lost all fear and have found the greatest courage.
I have learned to love and let myself be loved.
With you, I have found a rhythm of grace and gracefulness.
Love has reawakened in my life; a rebirth; a new beginning.
With you my anam cara,
I am understood,
I am home.

Officiant/Friend:
And now, please drink to the love you have shared in the past.
(The couple take turns sipping from the loving cup)

Officiant/Friend:
Drink to your love in the present, on this your wedding day.
(The couple take turns sipping from the loving cup)

Officiant/Friend:
And drink to your love in the future and forever more.
(The couple take turns sipping from the loving cup)

Officiant/Friend:
The Celts believed that the way you view your future actually shapes it. I now ask everyone here in the room to take a moment to visualize a future for the Bride and Groom. As a group lets think of the happiness in store for Lori and Eoghan. Lets put their joyous future out to the universe.

(A moment of silence is taken. The officiant then offers his own blessing)


I don't have a pic yet of the cup, I will have to post one (harder to do from work) but now I have to add something else to the "To Do" list which is buy one! I have found one I like at least, so that's a good start!

I have plenty of other pics to post still (STD's, MOH dress, placecard holders)...just haven't had a chance lately....hopefully over the weekend!

So, that's it for now, I'm just happy about finding and being able to do the Loving Cup ceremony! :banana:

[padisneyfour]

Oh That is a very unique idea! I love it. Its nice you can incoporate it! :goodvibes

[Lynn5700]

@

[camara381]

Oh love the loving cup ceremony, it's beautiful

[Angela0917]

Congrats on your upcoming wedding!!! I just have to tell you, I LOVE the World of Disney in NYC!!! I'm actually going to NYC this weekend, and of course that's the #1 store I've got to stop at!! AND, I will be honeymooning in Disney when you get married!!! We're staying at the Beach Club!! I will definately be lurking around the boardwalk that afternoon!!

[Lorelei528]

AND, I will be honeymooning in Disney when you get married!!! We're staying at the Beach Club!! I will definately be lurking around the boardwalk that afternoon!!

Yes, Angela, please stop by and feel free to lurk!!

Lynn-I will be in touch as we get closer....we'll be resort-hopping from BW, so I'm sure we'll come over sometime in the morning..I have to check our schedule for that day..

Ok, all, so instead of doing this in the normal, organized fashion, I'm soo behind I thought I'd just post some pics of stuff and take it from there....

So, first of all...again, here is my dress (yay! a bigger pic!)
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/18259.jpg

And just because I never posted these earlier..here are the other dresses I had liked before I tried on MY dress...again, I will have to fill in on the whole dress decision thing, but here are pics for now..
Jessica by Maggie Sottero
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/jessica1forweb.jpg
Some Casablanca number....
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/Casablanca1900front_L.jpg
And another Casablanca dress...
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/1858-22.jpg

Here is the MOH dress and it will be in this color....It's a Badgely Mischka Bridesmaid dress(please excuse the model's overflowing ****age...)
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/Alainasdress.jpg
Here is my niece in the dress, keep in mind, she's a size 0 and the sample was probably an 8 I think...I know she doesn't look too happy, but she likes the dress!!:thumbsup2 We're going to make it a little shorter as well.http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/alaina-in-dressforweb.jpg

Here are the shoes I ordered....http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/shoesforweb.jpg I hope they are comfy because they are the only ones I have found that I like that aren't way out of my budget. They are by Grace and I ordered them from TheGlassSlipper.com. They weren't in stock and they told me it would take a couple of weeks to get them. They are suppossed to get them in next week and then will ship them to me.
Here is the Irish Loving Cup we are going to order for the service I wrote about in a previous posthttp://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/irish-loving-cupforweb.jpg

And these are the flutes we like and are going to order. Originally I wanted the Mickey and Minnie, but I changed my mind. You can monogram these which I think is cool. They are Waterford which I wanted to get for Eoghan's heritage.http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/toasting-flutesforweb.jpg

So, that's it for now! I stil have some pics in my camera of our STD's and the placecard holders and some other things, but I need to download them from my camera which I haven't done...

Sorry, this hasn't been updated lately, I kind of suck at it I guess!! :guilty:

More soon-

Lori

[Lorelei528]

So, my shoes arrived at my mom's house on Tuesday and I just got to go over there tonight...I just had to post because I'm pretty excited and wanted to share the good news.....I LOVE THEM!!!!:love:

They are so pretty in real life!! And I tried them on (only in carpeted rooms of course!!) and they feel pretty comfortable!! :thumbsup2

I think I might put one of those things in where it keeps your foot from sliding forward just in case, but my mom and I decided that they're a keeper!! I might look for a back-up shoe in case my feet are killing me by the DP, but I'm not sure what kind of luck I'm going to have..I'm not a flip-flop wearer and I'm not sure what other, more comfy shoe I would even look for. I originally saw some White Doc Martens on Zappos, but they would totally clash with my Ivory dress, so can't do those...

But at least I have one more thing (and it's an important one!) to cross off my list! YAY!!!!:cool1: :yay:

[Petals & Pixie Dust]

I love your ceremony choice! I can't wait to see the rest of your planning!

[camara381]

Oh Lori LOVE the shoes!!!!!! They'll go perfect with the dress!!!

[Beep]

I adore the Ophelia dress, it is gorgeous. I love the BM dress too, and your shoes! The dress is a lovely colour :goodvibes

[alissa2008]

:eek: how the heck have I not seen this before?!?! Do I live under a rock??

:woohoo: everything is coming along swimmingly! I'm loving your ceremony and clothing...shoes are awesome... :idea: Yeah, I pretty much love everything!!

popcorn::

[Lorelei528]

So, I was finally able to book Narcoossee's when it finally was loaded into the system. So, now the only ones I'm waiting on are-Lunch w/an Imagineer on May 8 (this is not a regular dining ressie, so you can't make it until 90 days out) and Sanaa for dinner for May 6 (hopefully can book on Feb. 23)...

Here are the rest, I was able to get pretty much everything I wanted at the times I wanted....

4/26 Dinner @ 1900 Park Fare (have only had breakfast here)
4/27 Breakfast at Cape May Buffet (a new one for us!)
4/27 Dinner @ O'hana (another new one for us)
4/28 Breakfast @ Akershus (have done this before and liked it!)
4/28 Dinner @ Artist Point w/ the future in laws and aunts and uncle (we've eaten here before and really enjoyed it). This will be the first Disney meal ever for the in-laws etc....
4/29 Lunch @Sci-Fi Dine In (this is one of my traditions, plus DF liked it so much that it was his idea to bring his family there for a meal)
4/29 Dinner @Kona Cafe (have eaten lunch here, it was yummy! This will be the first meal we share with one of my brothers and sister in laws and nieces, so this is their first real Disney meal-they have been to WDW before but have only done CS) They will be meeting future in-laws for the first time at this meal!
4/30 Breakfast @Chef Mickey-first character meal experience for everyone ever but me and DF (we've eaten here before for breakfast)
4/30 Safari Grand Gathering Celebration Dinner which will bring all 20 of us together and most will be meeting for the first time. I have a good feeling about this experience, so I hope it lives us to my expectations!
5/1 Wedding Day!! Who knows what we'll do for breakfast or lunch, but our dinner reception is in the Wine Room in Jiko and then we're having a Dessert Party in Morocco during IllumiNations...
5/2 Breakfast @Crystal Palace with EVERYONE (This will be all 20 of us and I'm expecting it to be a lot of fun-hopefully!) DF and I LOVE CP and I especially love Pooh, Piglet, Tigger and Eyeore...
5/2 Dinner @ Biergarten with EVERYONE (this is another tradition for me, but I usually eat lunch here. This is considered a "good bye" dinner as some of my family is leaving the next day and won't be joining us for breakfast.
5/3 Breakfast @Tusker House. We really liked this the last trip. The food was great!!! This will be back to just us, plus the in-laws and my mom (who will be 84 by then!) and she totally loves the characters, she hasn't done this breakfast before and I think she's really going to like it!
5/3 Dinner @BOMA. We'll be resort hopping to AKL from BW this day and after my family all leaves, it will be the first meal we have with D(H)'s family after the wedding. I think they're really going to like BOMA and looking around AKL a bit more than they did the night of the wedding dinner. I expect this meal to be lots of fun with them. We've eaten here before and it's one of our faves.
5/4 Breakfast @Akershus. Again for us, but we wanted to bring D(H)'s family to a breakfast with the princesses (I think they'll get a kick out of the character interaction).
5/4 Dinner @ Marakesh. This is another tradition for me and D(H) liked it a lot on our last trip and said his dad would like the belly dancer and the music etc...this is their last night with us so I think this was a good choice.
5/5 Breakfast @1900 Park Fare. The last TS meal we'll be sharing with D(H)'s family as they're leaving today. I thought it would be nice for them to see GF as they've seen a lot of if not most of the other Deluxe resorts. Plus, I remember the food being pretty good at this breakfast and I know they'll be familiar with the characters here....hopefully this is a good choice for their last TS meal at WDW and will leave a good impression.
5/5 Dinner @ San Angel Inn. This is one of our faves. We had a very romantic dinner here our last trip for my b'day and because it's our first dinner alone for our Disneymoon, we wanted to eat here again. I know it's not the most popular restaurant, but I've never been dissappointed. (uh-oh, I hope I didn't just jinx it!)
5/6 Dinner @Sanaa. I'm very excited about trying this new restaurant!
5/7 Breakfast @O'hana. We were suppossed to do this last trip, but didn't make it. I love Stitch (and Lilo too!) so we're excited to be able to do this. This is a new one for us.
5/7 Lunch @Crystal Palace. Have only done breakfast here, but D(H) wanted to eat here just the two of us, and I couldn't work a breakfast into the schedule, so we're trying a lunch!
5/7 Dinner @Narcoossee's. Again, we were suppossed to do this last trip and didn't make it. I've never eaten here and am looking forward to it. I made the ADR hopefully to coincide with Wishes...
5/8 Breakfast @BOMA. mmmmmmmm (no other explanation needed)
5/8 Lunch w/an Imagineer at Brown Derby. (Can't wait to do this! It's one of our special Disneymoon treats to ourselves)
5/8 Dinner @Jiko. One of our faves. Also, what I think is one of the most romantic restaurants at WDW. Even though we're having our dinner reception here, we wanted to eat here another night just the 2 of us.
5/9 Breakfast @Chef Mickey. (Just because we like it)
5/9 Dinner @California Grill. Our last night of our Disneymoon before we head home. Haven't eaten here before and just had to do it this trip. Made our ADR to hopefully coincide with Wishes...
5/10 Breafast @BOMA....our last day...they'll have to pry my hands off the door of AKL.....


Well, that's it! I know it's long, but thanks for reading!! I have to update with pics of tuxes and a few other things....

Just want to also say-
I hope everyone gets the ADR's they want on their upcoming trips!!!

Much love-

[gemmybear83]

I love all your plans - youy have a lovely way of telling your story :lovestruc

I love your wedding dress (and the other ones you tried on - I've looked up Casablanca bridal but there is only 2 wedding shows in U.K that sell those gowns :sad1: )

[Lorelei528]

Ok, so I feel like things are beginning to wind up and there’s not that much stuff left to do/get. But this can’t be right! I made a list of stuff left to get/pay for and I know I must be forgetting something! This can’t be all, can it?:scared1:
Anyway, so here’s my list….I’m hoping you can all do me a favor and take a look and the things you think I may have forgotten, throw it out there for me…somethings I’ve done and taken off the list (like toasting flutes) while others I may have plum forgotten or worse yet, not even thought of yet!

Ok, here goes:
Footless Spanx (have the ones with feet and my feet slip too much in my shoes)
Lipstick/Stain (Patricia didn’t have the colour I wanted at my trial run, she will bring something, but she said to be safe I should bring something as well)
Nail Polish (I’m trying out one of the new OPI colours tomorrow. I wanted a Lilac/Lavender shade. If I like it, I’ll buy a bottle to bring with me for my mani down there)
Sunscreen (either the spray –on Neutrogena one mentioned here or the Eminence SPF thingy) http://www.eminenceorganics.com/products/index.php?paid=90#91
Or BOTH!
Devacurl Angell (I’m trying to get my hair as curly as possible for wedding. I don’t want the look of curling iron curls, but naturally curly). Am trying cheaper stuff, but if I have to am going to buy this. I’ve heard great things about it.
CrestWhiteStrips of some sort (we can’t afford the dentist whitening, so am going to give these a try)
More bridal type tees – I have one for MOG, MOB and 1 for DF so far and 2 for me (one bride to be one and three bride ones) I need to get my MOH a sparkly tank and obviously get DF a couple of more. I want to wear a shirt maybe everyday like Meg did, I thought the idea was great! If not everyday, then almost everyday!
Lingerie-My mom and SIL are throwing me some sort of small bridal shower this Sunday. I’m wondering if anyone will get me some sort of lingerie, otherwise, I have to find some somewhere! Any ideas?
Pay for trial run for at home reception (April 4)
Stuff for Welcome Bags (anti-bacterial gel, shout wipes, maybe Disney pens, Disney nail files, gum, Disney mints/snacks/candy, maybe Disney magnet or keychain, maybe Belle and Ariel light up thingys for my nieces-who are 19 and 24!, water bottle straps-will get these when we get to WDW I think. We already have wedding tissues, favor bookmarks, the actual bags themselves and all the info documents are printed out. I bought some cheap folders and a Mickey stencil to do with a sparkly Black pen)
Mickey Head Fan Program, Menu Cards and Invites for at home reception – ordered, deposit made.
Mead – for Irish Loving Cup ceremony
Best Man’s gift – watch by Storm
Pay to get my ring sized and diamonds added-(My mom gave me her anniversary band. It needs to be made a bit bigger and so diamond(s) need to be added. We’re going next Sunday to do this)
Get DF’s ring-He did see something he liked. We’re not too worried about this.
Get Matte Board for guests to sign – (I got this idea from Betsy. Instead of a guest book, we’ll have our guests sign a matte board which we’ll put a wedding picture in)
Nice Purpley Pen to sign Matte Board with
Get MOH’s bracelet sized-We got our MOH a bracelet for her gift, but it’s too big and we need to get it made smaller. I guess they’ll take a link out.
Figure out what I’m doing for my necklace – I’m either going to put my grandmother’s diamond pendant on a narrow ribbon or a short chain (more of a choker to go with the vintage look of the dress)
So, I either have to get ribbon or a chain-sigh..
Plastic Chinese Food Containers for DP leftovers
Personalized Napkins for DP – am about to order them in the next couple of days
Ribbons for tags for Welcome Bags and to tie up MOB, MOG and MOH shirts


It’s the little things I think that are going to kill me! Like forgetting the ribbon for the tags for the welcome bags or the nail polish or something….It’s tough that every wedding is so unique, because what some brides need is not the same as what other brides do!

But, having looked over this list, maybe there are ideas I haven’t thought of? Please help me Brainstorm!!!!!

[Nicola2010]

Hi Lori just caught up with your plans... everything looks great :thumbsup2

You must be getting very excited now!

Oh and i will be getting married on your 1st anniversary!

[MiaBella05]

You are very detailed orientated!! Can't wait to read more!! popcorn::

[Lorelei528]

OMG!!!! I just FINALLY figured out how to multi-quote!!! I'm an idiot. Someone told me a long time ago about the multi-quote button but I was like yeah, what now? whenever I tried to click it! :rotfl:

So, now that I know...whatch out! I'll be updating and commenting back to all of your comments! Whoo hoo!:cool1::cool1:


You are very detailed orientated!! Can't wait to read more!! popcorn::

Thanks! ummm...yeah, detail oriented is the nice way to put it...I'm kind of...obsessive. :lmao:

Hi Lori just caught up with your plans... everything looks great :thumbsup2

You must be getting very excited now!

Oh and i will be getting married on your 1st anniversary!

Thanks! I'm TOTALLY excited!! So many things have been happening and I totally have flaked out on my PJ!! I'm thinking my TR is kind of going to have to be a combo deal.

YAY for you!! I gotta tell you...the time totally flies by!! You'll see! :wizard:

Ok, thanks all for reading, I'm going to be taking pics this weekend as I pack away stuff like the placecard holders and other misc. stuff like our attendant gifts, so then I just have to download them and post them to photobucket..sheesh. I guess I'm lazy! It just takes too many darn steps!! sigh.

Ok, we leave one week from today, and the wedding is in two! Tanis just told me today the Model A is not working!!:scared1:
So, now we're using a Cadillac Touring from 1922 that was used in some Lucille Ball movie! Hopefully it will be as nice in person as the Model A looks like it would be! I'm keeping my fingers crossed!!

[PrincessShea]

Hey Lori, just a thought on the whitestrips. First of all, they really work so no worries! I would suggest though going to your dentist to see if he/she sells them. Mine does and they have some extra strength version that I don't see available in stores. Might be worth a call :thumbsup2

[auntpunkin]

Oh my goodness, you are getting so close! I just got caught up and I thought the loving cup ceremony was beautiful! Your ADR's sound great, we'll actually be staying at the Wilderness Lodge during part of the time you're there, our PS is the 24th. Everything you have done and planned sounds great. If I don't run into you down there, I hope your wedding is wonderful! :hug:

[29apr00]

HAPPY WEDDING DAY LORI!!

:dance3::dance3::dance3::dance3:

[keenercam]

Happy Wedding Day, Sweetie!!!!

[Lindsay22]

Happy Wedding Day!!
Tanis assisted Diane on our wedding and she was wonderful! You are in great hands!

[Nicola2010]

Happy wedding day!

[disneygal922]

:dance3:HAPPY WEDDING DAY!!!:dance3:

[GoonieBride]

HAPPY WEDDING DAY!!!:cool1:

[lov2b@disney]

happy wedding day lori and eoghan!

[c1nd3r311a52010]

Hope your having a wonderful wedding day!

[Petals & Pixie Dust]

Congratulations! :wizard:

[MegKate]

Congrats to the both of you! I can't wait to see pictures when you get back!! :goodvibes

[KatGarcia]

Hello fellow NYer! Just found your report! LOVED your story!!! I can't wait to hear about your trip!

[Petals & Pixie Dust]

I know I know...You just got back and all...Um...but what about the TR. Are you holding out on us?!?!?! :rotfl:

[lurkyloo]

If I may....

You can get a sneak peek at Lori's wedding in my trip report, since I spent the day stalking her ceremony and got lots of pix:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2173104


The stalking begins on Page 9! :thumbsup2

[starann]

I started reading LurkyLoo's TR and came across your's. I can't wait to hear all about your 15 days in WDW!!!!!

I livein Pa and my mom lives in SI, so if you ever want someone to go to WOD with you......I've never been! (how sad is that!)

[DisneyFairy19]

I saw the pics in Carries thread. BEAUTIFUL I love the colors

[Lorelei528]

So, starting one of these to me is like beginning a research paper back in college :lmao: In fact I have tried twice before on two previous trips to do TR's to no avail. :( On this trip again, I took no notes. :guilty:I am a bad TRer. :guilty:I never even finished my PJ for my wedding :guilty::guilty:(so, will be using this as a substitute for wedding info for all those interested).

Basically, here's the background. We starting planning our Disney Wedding (The Escape or Intimate package) about a year ago. We were planning on staying at BW for 6 nights and then moving to AKL (our favorite) for another 6 nights. When Disney came out with the Buy 4, get 3 free, we decided to add 2 extra nights and ended up spending less $!! :banana:So, we ended up with 7 nights at each resort. :banana:

Originally the plan was to leave April 25th on Saturday in the morning and arrive sometime Sunday afternoon (we were driving for the second-and last-time). But then the dentist appt was scheduled for Friday morning and when I realized it was stupid to take a half day to drive DF to the dentist, I decided to take the whole day off instead. So, then came the other appts. - Manicure for 9:30 (and not for me, but for DF-his first and only manicure -for photos), haircut (again, his) for 12:15. We also had to go pick up DF’s paycheck as his company does not do direct deposit :mad: and we needed to get that $ into the account before we left! I also just had so many last minute things to do (I definitely didn’t plan the packing for this trip correctly and I guess I also procrastinated WAY too much!). :guilty::guilty::guilty:

So, now I figured we’d be pulling into WDW property late Saturday night (I figured 9ish) and would need to get a room. I wasn’t going to spend the $400+ to stay at BW for that night, so I called CRO and asked about ASMovies or any of the ALL-Stars. (We stayed in POP last trip but didn’t like it, and I had stayed in ASMovies before and liked it). The price they gave me was like $129 I think before taxes etc. Even with my AP-actually they said there was no AP discount because it was on a Saturday or something…I was like..”Yeah, no thanks.” I knew I could find a room for less than $100 if we stayed like even an hour away or whatnot. Then I remembered! I could try the AAA site! I looked first on Travelocity and other sites and :surfweb:then remembered I could use my AAA discount :idea:(I just joined last August, so keep forgetting about it). So, ASMovies was not available, but ASMusic was available for like $90 a night. I booked it. I was a smidge nervous about ASMusic, but after reading some good on-line reviews I felt much better.
So, first we were supposed to leave by 10am (before we realized we couldn’t) then it went to 2pm due to the appts. and paycheck. With everything else, we didn’t leave until like really late. Like after 6, it might have even been 7 and to be honest with you, due to my lack of notes, I can’t even say for sure how late it was. I know it was before 8, because the sun was not down yet though! :rotfl:

So, the car is packed with all of our regular Disney Vacation necessities as well as everything we needed to bring down for the wedding (my dress, my niece’s-MOH dress, my mom’s dress). The reason we had to bring down their dresses as well was because we were having all of the dresses steamed on Thursday morning and my family was not going to be in until Thursday late afternoon. Also, we had bags and Rubbermaid containers with our champagne flutes, stuff for the welcome bags, just so much extra stuff! We had to make sure I could see out the back window of the car, which was no small feat I’ll tell ya since I drive a Ford ZX2 (which,although cute and sporty is very….small for this kind of trip with so much stuff)

So, we hit the road. I’m not even sure where we stopped and again, due to lack of notes I can’t give you details (unless later I find a receipt or something)….I’m thinking it was in Virginia at a Howard Johnson…at first we had planned to bring in the wedding gown and a bag or two with us, but since we were so shattered from the drive already, we just ended up wearing the same clothes the next day and we were able to park the car pretty much right outside the room…I was worried about my dress, but left it up to the universe that it would be ok while we got a few hours sleep.

I can’t even remember what we did about dinner that night, I’m sure we had something on the road somewhere….
The next morning we woke up and headed over to our fave place…Waffle House. Don’t laugh all you Southerners! We don’t have anything like Waffle House up north and we LOVE it!! :lovestruc: I first discovered it on a road trip to Memphis back in like the mid 90’s. And DF had also stopped there on a move job he was doing from NYC to down south somewhere years ago.
Anyway, as I was saying, we LOVE Waffle House. I actually think the thing we like the most about it is the friendly service. We have stopped at a number of them these past two trips to WDW and every server we got was friendly and chatty.

So, after our yummy breakfast of cheese ‘n’ eggs and grits and waffles and sausages (or whatever yumminess we had that morning), we continued the journey to my happy place, the place where we would be wed and dance with The Big Cheese himself and his gf. (We all know that Mickey and Minnie are not married, despite all the merchandise and print material where they are dressed as bride and groom, right?).

We arrived at ASMusic late that night. I think it was like 11:30 or so. We stayed at one of the Broadway buildings. I hadn’t faxed a room request because I knew we were only going to be there for a few hours to sleep and have breakfast before moving to BW.

I have to say…I really liked ASMusic!! First of all, the landscaping and the lighting at night was very nice. I of course didn’t take any pics because we really just wanted to hit the hay but I was definitely impressed. ASMusic in general, didn’t seem quite as garish as ASMovies (which I actually still like and would stay at again) or POP (which was just icky and we wouldn’t stay there again. I think we’re a couple of the only people who don’t like POP.) Even the beds and sheets were nicer at ASMusic than at POP. Anyway, even with the way the room was decorated, ASMusic seemed more like it was geared to adults rather than children. And then I kind of remembered reading reviews and articles about all the All-Stars when they first opened and that they were supposed to be more geared to adults. So I think Disney were successful in that respect for sure. We would definitely stay there again. We didn’t get a chance to watch the movies at the pool and DF was understandably pretty bummed about that. (We didn’t know yet that they did the same thing at Y&BC for BW guests as well, and of course we didn’t get to partake there either-oh well, for a future trip!)

So, although very excited, we finally went to bed to try and rest up for the next 2 weeks ahead of us which would include: tux fittings, dress steamings, DF’s family arriving from Ireland, my family arriving from NY, Safari Celebration dinners, 6am Magic Kingdom photo shoots, a wedding:bride:, an IllumiNations Dessert Party, character meals, families leaving and our…..Disneymoon.

Whew! We better get a good nights sleep!! LOL

Next up-our first Mickey Waffle of the trip and our first day at BW….
And yes, there will be pics in future posts!

[DisneyDmbNut]

I just saw the title and thought "what the heck did I subscribe to??"
hahaha

[Petals & Pixie Dust]

I just saw the title and thought "what the heck did I subscribe to??"
hahaha

You and me both!
:rotfl:

Fellow Syracusian...I would have thought that your professors at SU had taught you a thing or two about taking notes for exams.:teacher: LOL
I'm looking forward to reading this!popcorn::

[Lorelei528]

Oh my goodness, you are getting so close! I just got caught up and I thought the loving cup ceremony was beautiful! Your ADR's sound great, we'll actually be staying at the Wilderness Lodge during part of the time you're there, our PS is the 24th. Everything you have done and planned sounds great. If I don't run into you down there, I hope your wedding is wonderful! :hug:
Thanks! I guess we didn't get to run into each other, but it was a great day! Just VERY hot...you were there, it was hot, right?

HAPPY WEDDING DAY LORI!!

:dance3::dance3::dance3::dance3:

Happy Wedding Day, Sweetie!!!!

Thanks!:goodvibes

Happy Wedding Day!!
Tanis assisted Diane on our wedding and she was wonderful! You are in great hands!

Tanis was awesome!! I can't believe how she literally took care of everything!!!

Happy wedding day!

:dance3:HAPPY WEDDING DAY!!!:dance3:

HAPPY WEDDING DAY!!!:cool1:

happy wedding day lori and eoghan!

thanks! :cutie:

Hope your having a wonderful wedding day!

Wonderful...and hot. :lmao:
Congratulations! :wizard:

Congrats to the both of you! I can't wait to see pictures when you get back!! :goodvibes

Thanks! Pics are coming up, but you can see our Randy shots on his website now and the Disney photos are also up...I have to repost the link...I did another thread for it I think which was silly of me!

Hello fellow NYer! Just found your report! LOVED your story!!! I can't wait to hear about your trip!

Stay tuned! We're just getting started!:cool1:

I know I know...You just got back and all...Um...but what about the TR. Are you holding out on us?!?!?! :rotfl:

umm...no, not holding out, just resting up! :rotfl: The drive back killed me and I returned to work immediately that morning! Then my first night back instead of getting to bed early, we rescued a stray kitten by our house and consequently didn't get to bed early at all!

If I may....

You can get a sneak peek at Lori's wedding in my trip report, since I spent the day stalking her ceremony and got lots of pix:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2173104


The stalking begins on Page 9! :thumbsup2

YAY!! For Carrie being on the ball with her TRing!! My trippie won't measure up to any of hers I know, but I'll still give it a good try! Kudos to Carrie for posting some pics and the link to our Sneak Peek!

I started reading LurkyLoo's TR and came across your's. I can't wait to hear all about your 15 days in WDW!!!!!

I livein Pa and my mom lives in SI, so if you ever want someone to go to WOD with you......I've never been! (how sad is that!)

Maybe we can do a mini-meet up sometime! You know, you don't have to twist my arm to go to WOD!! (Although they don't do characters upstairs anymore which totaly sucks!!):mad:

I saw the pics in Carries thread. BEAUTIFUL I love the colors

Thanks!

I just saw the title and thought "what the heck did I subscribe to??"
hahaha

umm..yeah, I thought of that, but oh well! I thought it would get peeps attention! I do have to say I hate the way we are limited to a certain # of characters for out title...I really needed like 3-5 more. sigh.

You and me both!
:rotfl:

Fellow Syracusian...I would have thought that your professors at SU had taught you a thing or two about taking notes for exams.:teacher: LOL
I'm looking forward to reading this!popcorn::

Yeah, I was never the best note taker to be honest! But you would think for doing something as enjoyable as a trip to WDW, I'd be able to get something jotted down! sheesh! I suck! :lmao:
Ok, I have now mentally committed myself to taking notes for our short drive-by visit in Sept.! I will do it dammit!

Stay tuned for my next installment...I'll work on writing it today I promise!

[Lorelei528]

This next installment is pretty short, but the next one after that I think is going to be very long, so I just broke out this little segment...

Well, we had set our alarm I remember (though I can’t remember for what time!) and then, when it went off, decided to snooze a bit...
So, after a fairly good night’s sleep, we awoke to sounds outside that at first I thought were the lifeguards playing games with guests (kids). But when it continued on and on…only one thought came to mind…..OMG! It’s the dreaded “some type of cheerleading thing” happening. :scared1: Those cheerleading/dance competitions I have read so much about over the years on the boards but have been lucky enough never to experience. :eek: We peeked out our window (our room was on the 1st floor) only to see hundreds of kids (I think high school aged, though I’m not sure), practicing cheers and dance moves. :scared: :cheer2:

Oh well, there went sleeping in! ugh. :mad:
So, we decided there was nothing else to do but to get ready to head over to BW (after having a Mickey Waffle for breakfast of course!)
Our car was parked fairly close by to our room, so we brought whatever bags we had brought in with us (having left my wedding gown in the car still) back to the car. I had already called the front desk to make sure we didn’t have to stop by the front desk to check out and was told by the lovely cast member that we were good to go! (Not her words, mine).
So we made it over to Intermission passing by the awesome Three Cabelleros fountain thingy in the main pool. http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/3cabellerosfountainthingyat.jpgOn the way, we passed by cheer/dance team member after cheer/dance team member all made up with crazy makeup and hairstyles, it was totally surreal. Check that, it was just weird.

Anyway, so the food court was not too crowded :thumbsup2 and actually by the time we got over there, we just made the breakfast cut off! :scared1: I don’t know about you, but I must have breakfast items as my first meal of the day. I’ve been like this for as long as I remember. Even back in college when we all slept until like after 1pm on the weekends, I couldn’t wake up and have lunch. It had to be eggs, or cereal or a bagel etc.
So, also I try to keep to my tradition of having as many Mickey waffles as possible while in WDW. Consequently, I couldn’t wait to get my first one in my tummy. (I have to say here that I kind of have to talk DF into the merits of Mickey waffles. He gets them, but he doesn’t love them. I think most of the time he gets them just to make me happy. Awww….) In fact, towards the end of this vacation and the last one as well, when he attempted to get away with not having a Mickey waffle (when they were in fact available at whatever eating establishment we were at), and I asked “You’re not getting a Mickey waffle?” in an obviously all miffed tone, he would just be like…”Nyah, I’ve had enough of those..” (?!?!?!?!?) :eek:

So, here’s a pic of DF in Intermission- http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/eoghanat-breakfast-at-ASMus.jpg
And my mini review of Intermission is as follows: It was good. Being that we only had this one meal there, I don’t have much to base my review on, but so far, I was really enjoying everything about ASMusic!
Of course we (I) had to check out the shop before we left as it was the first Disney merchandise I had seen this trip. (Does everyone get that tingly feeling like me the first time they walk into a shop at Disney, filled with……stuff?!?!? ) :lovestruc We didn’t buy anything, figuring we’d have plenty of time to shop over the next two weeks. ( Just the way I like it!) LOL.

Saying our good-byes to ASMovies, we finally made our way over to BW….

Next up: BW and a very long day at MK (and more pics, I swear!):thumbsup2

[Lorelei528]

oops!

[Lorelei528]

So we pull up to BW to check in and have the bell services guy help us with all of our crap..uhh…I mean stuff. They actually couldn’t even fit everything on the trolley :eek:, so we left a few things in the car, parked ourselves and carried said items in ourselves. Check-in was a total breeze!! There was no line whatsoever! :yay: The CM who checked us in was very nice. I want to say she was from Italy, but now I can’t remember. We got our Just Married pins and Just Engaged (not sure why) :confused3 and even 2 Family Reunion pins. Those were in a separate envelope with our names on them and I asked her about them, but she said something about how I’d find out later or something. The way she said it was like...:scared:(scary)…the interesting thing was, I don’t think anyone else who was there for our wedding got these Family Reunion pins…:confused3
I don’t think there was anything else exciting or noteworthy about check-in at BW (at least not that I could remember).
I had requested a room on an upper floor facing EPCOT because I had asked on another board about where to request at BW since I was not familiar with the resort. We had a standard view room which I had heard was quieter than facing the BW. We got up to our room and waited for the bell services guy. The room was beautiful (sorry, no pics!) The view was very nice of some gardens and you could see the Eiffel Tower and the tower of the Morocco building as well from our balcony. I have to say….on our last trip we went around and checked out a lot of the resorts. At the time we really was not that thrilled with BW. But we just really loved the room. I don’t know if it was the breeze that comes in through the doors, but it was just soooo relaxing in that room! Even though we thought AKL would always be our fave resort at WDW, we have added BW to that list because of our stay there and even though we thought we’d stay only in AKL for a deluxe resort on any trip to WDW, we would totally stay at BW again (and am actually anxiously awaiting a trip when we can do so!)
So, the bell services guy came up finally with all of our crap. Uhhh..I mean stuff and we settled in a bit. I didn’t know where to hang the dress so we just put it in the closet for the time being. Also, we had these two adorable towel animals waiting for us!
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/towel-animal-bunny-BW.jpg by the sink and then this one
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/2nd-towel-animal-bunny-BW.jpg
I think these towel animals are the nicest ones I've ever gotten for sure.
Basically the plan for the day was head over to the MK. There wasn’t anything definite except a mini-meet with some PPers (Passporters) at 4:30 and our ADR at 1900 Park Fare for dinner, plus of course EMH until 3am!! That was going to be something else! MK until 3am?!?! Cool! :banana: Oh yeah and hopefully trying to meet up with a college friend of mine who I haven’t seen in like 20 years! OMG!! :yay:
So, because we were going to try and stay out till so late, we weren’t in a huge hurry to get out of the room. But I didn’t want to waste too much time, so when we thought we were settled in enough, we decided it was time to hit the parks! Whoo hoo!:banana:

Buses from BW were great, no problems that I can remember the whole time we were there. We never waited for more than 15, maybe 20 mins. for a bus, but most times it was only like 5-10. I think we got to the MK around 2pm. We hadn’t had any lunch, but we weren’t hungry so we decided to hit some rides/attractions. So, here’s one of my takes on WDW. There are the classics, right? If you’ve never been to WDW before, these are the rides/attractions you must experience no matter what. If you’ve been to WDW before, I break the classics into 2 categories. Those you always still go on no matter what and those that as long as you’ve been on them once or once in the past 2 visits etc., you can skip ‘em. This being said, back on our Sept./Oct. trip there were actually a few classics that I wanted DF to go on but for whatever reason (maybe because I knew we’d be back in like 6 months) we just didn’t get around to. Two of these were Jungle Cruise and The Enchanted Tiki Room. Now with Jungle Cruise, I don’t think I’ve been on this since ’01, maybe not even since ’97, I’m not sure. Once AK opened, I kind of think, well, I know it’s a classic but now that you can see real animals at WDW, we don’t need to do the JC. But the thing is, it’s a classic and I wanted DF to go on it, since we had watched documentaries on Walt and audio-animatronics and I knew he would think it would be interesting to see some of the older attractions from back in the 70’s, some of the originals. And with the Tiki Room, OMG! I know I did that one as well on my very first trip and I always hit that one, even though I really dislike the new (not very new anymore) version. So, basically that’s what we did. We had fun. :woohoo: Then we were getting a little hungry, but didn’t want to spoil our appetite for dinner so we got….Mickey Bars!! :mickeybar: For some reason I didn’t even discover these until my trip in ’03 (but thanks to reading the PP boards I did discover them!) and now like the Mickey Waffles, I try to get Mickey Bars as much as possible, like one a day, if possible. It’s not you have to twist my arm, I mean, they are so incredibly yummy. Even DF is fascinated by why they are so good when all they are really are plain Vanilla ice cream coated with chocolate….does anyone here know? :confused3 Man, they are good and I don’t even like Vanilla ice cream! :lmao:
So, we found a nice quiet spot near where the PP meet was supposed to be and sat down and ate our Mickey Bars. Well, 4:30 came and went and I didn’t see any of my fellow PPers…it’s got to be about 4:40 I think when DF volunteered to go over to the other roundy area in between Crystal Palace and the Castle to see if he could find anyone that looked like they were having some sort of meetup. As it turns out, we were in the wrong place! We went back over and got our picture taken and got to talk to the few PPers who were there and then they were off to get Dole Whips!! LOL…they asked if we wanted to go, but we had just had our Mickey Bars, plus we were like less than an hour away from dinner time, so we said we’d have to pass. Actually there were at least 2 PPers who were Dole Whip virgins! I couldn’t believe it! I was so excited for them! Tee hee.
We made our way down Main Street and out of the MK. We took a monorail to the GF for dinner at 1900 Park Fare.
So, I had only been to 1900 Park Fare for breakfast and not being the biggest fan of GF or anything having to do with it, I didn’t fall in love with the breakfast experience there, but I do love Alice and the food was pretty good, so for the heck of it I checked out the dinner menu on Allears.net and it looked pretty darn yummy and interesting, plus if I understood correctly, Prince Charming would be there along with Lady Tremaine and Drizella and Anastasia as well as Cindy so I thought it would be fun to give it a try. Plus, DF had never been to 1900 Park Fare before.
Well, we had a great dinner. I actually didn’t think the food was that great, I thought it was good, but DF really enjoyed his meal. The food at WDW is one of his favorite things so this being our first real meal this trip, it made me really happy that he really enjoyed it. :cloud9:
We both thought the characters were GREAT!!! Especially the stepsisters!! Drizella was my absolute favorite! And though I usually like my guys a little more rough around the edges, Prince Charming truly lived up to his name! (Plus, he was VERY handsome! -she says in a giggly, girly tone). :lovestruc Even Lady Tremaine was pretty good and seemed to be really into being Lady Tremaine. But definitely the stepsisters stole the show! Just a warning for those of you who haven’t been but are thinking of it…..they are LOUD!!! LOL. Especially Drizella! But sooo funny! I would totally do this meal again just for the interaction with them! :thumbsup2 Here are some pics we took of us meeting the “characters”-

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/Eoghan-and-Cindy-at-1900-Pa.jpghttp://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/Eoghan-meets-Anastasia-at-d.jpg


http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/Prince-Charming-shows-E-how.jpghttp://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/meeting-Lady-Tremaine-at-di.jpg
So, after dinner, our plan was to go back to MK and enjoy the magic until we just couldn’t take it anymore! LOL. This is because the MK was open until 3am for EMH!! :yay:
Plus, we were hoping to meet up with this college friend of mine who I haven’t seen in like more than 20 years! :eek: We had reconnected through our alumni website, and now also via FB (Facebook). It was actually pretty funny because she was going to be in NYC the weekend after we returned from WDW and we were trying to make tentative plans for that when I commented on her FB about how it would be our first weekend back from WDW so I couldn’t promise anything…it turns out, she was going to be in WDW for a few days with her husband and two daughters when we first got there! We were very excited to see each other! :yay: So, we started texting as soon as we got on the monorail back to the MK….

It took a few texts to find each other, but we finally did and when we did, we ran towards each other, like long lost loves…it was so funny! :lmao: We talked as if we had just seen each other like an hour ago down in the dining hall in our dorm (we were good friends freshman year and into sophomore year, but then kind of drifted apart). But I have always loved Lauren. We just kind of went in different directions as we found ourselves (which I think pretty much all college students do as they go from freshman year to senior year).

Ok, wait, I have to stop here for now, because I forgot to upload some pics...darnit.

Stay tuned, we apologize for this unexpected interuption in the TR!

[Petals & Pixie Dust]

YEAH! an update!!! Awesome...I would have loved to have been in WDW until 0300! I would have taken a nap for that!

[lurkyloo]

Whohoo! Update! I wish you had pix of your room cuz I'm curious to know if you got one of the remodeled ones or the older kind with the big windowpane print bedspreads that I hate... :rotfl:

BWI is the only resort left that I've been wanting to try and haven't, so I love hearing about it! :hyper:

[Lorelei528]

YEAH! an update!!! Awesome...I would have loved to have been in WDW until 0300! I would have taken a nap for that!

Yep, it was great!! Last trip we did EPCOT until 11pm and loved that too! I think one of our new fave things is "evening" EMH for sure!

Whohoo! Update! I wish you had pix of your room cuz I'm curious to know if you got one of the remodeled ones or the older kind with the big windowpane print bedspreads that I hate... :rotfl:

BWI is the only resort left that I've been wanting to try and haven't, so I love hearing about it! :hyper:

We did have one of the remodeled ones...it was REALLY nice and I'm glad we got a remodeled room, I didn't like the old version (that I had seen pics of). Yeah, I hated those bedspreads as well!

I can't even really explain why we loved BWI so much, we just did! If you have any specific questions about it, though I'm not BWI expert, it's pretty fresh in my mind, so feel free to ask away! :goodvibes (And as both of us now know...you'll be staying at BWI soon enough, so I can't wait to get your take on it-probably because you're much better at descriptive writing than I am!)

[Lorelei528]

Anyway, her daughters are beautiful! Isabella and Juliette. Here’s a pic: http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/JulietteandIsabella.jpg
Also, her husband Charlie.
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/renandcharlie.jpg
They really make a good looking family and they are all so nice and friendly and very easy to talk to. Of course I didn’t think of taking pictures! At least Lauren took one (that I look awful in!).
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/meandRen.jpg
So, we let the girls decide what to do/ride to go on. First we did HM. (which we ended up getting stuck on and we were right at the end when they shut the ride down!) I took some pics of the bride, but let me tell you, sitting through her spouting the same line on repeat for like 20 mins really made it less creepy! LOL. Finally they let us out and we walked out of the ride. BUT, it did reinforce the idea of how much I love Disney Imagineering and how amazingly talented they are because being stuck in one place for such a long time, you could really see all the details and just wonder how everything is put together etc. Geniuses I tell you. Here’s a pic I took of the bride both with flash and without:
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/the-bride-in-HM.jpg
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/another--HM-bride-pic.jpg

Next I think we did Pirates. DF and I never get tired of it. I think then I tried to get our little group to walk in the direction of Spectromagic so the girls could see it. Lauren explained they saw it a little from far away the night before, but we were hoping to get a better view. On the way, Charlie stopped to get a big, fresh and warm chocolate chip cookie (damn, I should have taken a pic!). I think he got it at Sleepy Hollow but I'm not 100% sure...I'm sure someone here would know who does those huge freshly baked chocolate chip cookies that make your mouth water as you walk by and the yummy chocolate smell fills the air...mmmm...
We actually had a view of Wishes from there, so we just kind of hung out while Charlie enjoyed the chocolatey messiness of his cookie and we all oohed and ahhed at Wishes. He did offer to share, but DF and I declined but he did share the chocolatey goodness with Lauren and one of the girls and then as we walked towards the hub, and as we walked by Aloha Isle, somehow I got them to try a Dole Whip! I tried to explain the best I could about the Dole Whip and the whole big deal with them yadda, yadda, yadda. I think it was one of the girls who really wanted to try it. She was like…”I like Pineapple” It was really cute. So, Lauren LOVED the Dole Whip as well as the girls. I can’t remember if Charlie tried it or not. They were all disappointed that they didn’t know about them to be able to enjoy them the past couple of days when they were in MK.
So, we walked over to the hub and we actually found a place for the girls to sit and we rested and then Lauren, Eoghan and I walked over to the curb and some really nice CM told Lauren she could go behind this rope to get a better view of the parade since she was taking lots of pics. (Lauren takes awesome pics!) I'm sorry I don't have any to post here though...
I think the girls were getting tired and were a bit cold because I don’t think they came over to watch with us. After the parade, we went back over to where we left them and they were gone! I can’t remember if it was because Lauren called Charlie or if it was just good timing, but he had taken the girls into a shop to get them hoodies because they were cold.
I think Charlie wanted to get back to the hotel, but the girls got a second wind and weren’t quite ready to head out yet. I asked them earlier if they had been in Tomorrowland at all and they hadn’t! :faint: So, we went on Buzz and we did Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor. We walked around the back towards Toontown and the girls wanted to go on the tea cups. At first Charlie said “no” but as me and Lauren were having a hard time saying good-bye (until hopefully tomorrow! LOL) the girls convinced him and then we just waited for them to disembark the ride. It was finally time for the Fields to head out as they had ressies at Sea World and Discovery Cove to go swim with the dolphins in the morning and had to get up way early.

So, DF and I didn’t really have a plan as to what to hit next. The park was relatively empty. We still had a couple of rides/attraction that DF had not gotten to experience on our last trip (his first to
WDW) so Splash Mountain being one of these, we decided to head over there. On the way, we saw the line for Dumbo was relatively short and having never ridden the Dumbo ride at night before, we decided it was a must do for that moment! It was awesome! So relaxing! For all of you Dumbo aficionados, you must know this already, but there was something just so perfect about the moment. I can’t even find the words for it really…it just felt like a really special moment for me and DF. After Dumbo, we continued on our way to Splash Mountain….
We knew we might get wet and would consequently be chilly afterwards, but went on anyway. There was absolutely NO wait whatsoever and we walked right on! In fact, we had our own boat/log thingy!! :yay: It was actually really romantic! :yes: We got right in front! DF was so nervous the whole ride waiting for the “big drop”, it was so funny and too cute. Every drop he asked me if this was it and to be honest I hadn’t been on Splash in so long I couldn’t remember how many “warm up drops” there were before the big one, so even I started saying...”ooh, this could be it, I’m not sure..” and then DF would only get more anxious! :lmao: But at the same time we were both giggling and laughing, so it’s not like we were scared out of our minds or anything! We actually were having a great time! Now, you guys will have to remind me because I can’t remember where on the ride this happens, is it before or after you do the big drop, but when your boat thingy is about to go up some incline, it’s right next to the boats coming down the big drop I think and they have it timed so the splash of the downward boat thingy totally soaks your boat thingy as you begin the ascent next to the big drop…all I remember is we got soaked!! LOL….we were laughing so hard! It was so much fun!
So, we finally get to the big drop (right the spot where you get wet is after that? Or is it before? Ugh, I can’t remember!!) and because it’s night time and the only other 2 times I’ve been on Splash it was daytime, I never noticed the AMAZING view from the top right before the big drop! Anyway, if you haven’t had the chance to experience Splash at night, try to. It’s going to be added to the list of my “Overlooked Attractions” etc. at MK. So, anyway, for those of you who have not experienced it, basically the view before the big drop is the castle and Space Mountain all lit up. And because you’re up kind of high, there aren’t that many other lights you can see. It’s kind of hard to explain, but it made me catch my breath especially the first time, because I just wasn’t expecting it. It was beautiful. :love:
When we came around to the end, the CM asked up if we wanted to ride again! Well, we were pretty chilly actually, but thought we should grab the chance to ride again since you never know if you’re ever going to get that offer again! So we went around again and DF was much more relaxed this time. He said he enjoyed himself both times but he really could take it all in on the second time. I told him about the view, so he got to take a look and of course we still got wet again (but not as much as the first time) at that part where you get wet…..we could have even gone again, but figured we didn’t want to get sick before our big day, so best to leave it for now. Looking back, this was one of my favorite times of the whole trip for many reasons.
So, it was getting late and we had one thing we had to do before we left the MK that night. Like, we actually couldn’t leave the park without completing this “task”. And that was to get 6 water bottle straps to put into our welcome bags which we would be putting together before our guests arrived. We needed 12 total, but we didn’t want everyone to have the same, so we knew we’d just get from whatever parks we’d hit before everyone else arrived (so basically 6 from MK and 6 from EPCOT).

We found some at some corn dog stand. So we bought our 6 and moseyed on out of the MK. Before we did, I finally after 2 tries on previous trips, got to sit with Minnie and Roy and have my pic taken. It's one of the things I can never seem to do because there are just too many people and kids around and I don't have the patience to wait. This was perfect! No one was around, so I took a seat and got a bit teary (as I do with the Partners statue as well, but at least with Partners, I can hold it together because you can't actually stand with Walt and Mickey so I usually just stand and look at it long enough to say a few words to Walt and take a pic or two...this was different because it felt like we were practically the only ones in the park...)
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/me-Minnie-and-Roy.jpg
It was already 2:45 and although we didn’t make it until 3am, I was satisfied with the 2:45! I mean, we didn’t get that much done after the official park closing, but it was nice to walk around and not feel like we had to rush from ride to ride and could just take in the whole experience of being in the MK with each other a few days before our wedding. All in all, I was really happy with how our first day turned out. Now it was back to the BW to settle in for the night.

Up next: Bride to be takes a fall at DTD but still makes it to O’hana for dinner…but little does she know what awaits her and her knee/leg....

[Lorelei528]

So, one of the things I wasn’t sure about BW before we stayed there, but ended up working out ok actually was our choices for breakfast. I knew about Spoodles, but wasn’t too enthralled by their breakfast menu and the Boardwalk Bakery (although I had seen a photo of one of their breakfast sandwiches which made me think “yuck” at the time but would be proven wrong in the near future), I knew we could go into the park and grab something there like in Sunshine Seasons or eat in Norway (which actually we had scheduled for the next morning) but while I was doing my research it hit me (meaning the light bulb went off in my head again! :idea: ) We could do the Cape May Buffet breakfast!!! :cool1: I have heard such good things about this character breakfast and pretty much only good things! So I was happily excited and looking forward to it.
We had scheduled our breakfast for a bit later for us that morning (around 10amish) due to the extra late night we had the night before, but of course we were running a bit late and by the time we walked over I think we were at least 15-20 mins late. I was a little worried that they wouldn’t seat us, but no worrying necessary as we ended up not having to wait long at all.
My first impression of this breakfast was not that great actually. The hostess and manager etc. seemed very snooty or something :snooty:. And our server was nice but very slow, like she was not cut out to be a waitress…We were seated right next to the buffet though which was great. The booths were big and roomy and the tables were not close together. The first time the characters came around was strange. It was like the “B” team or something…it was weird :confused3 . Like Goofy totally was acting like a guy human, like the way he was moving his body was not like any other Goofy I had met on any of my trips to WDW. Also Minnie the first time around just acted like she totally didn’t want to be there that day…http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/me-and-Minnie-at-Cape-May-B.jpghttp://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/me-and-Donald-at-Cape-May-B.jpg
But then, Minnie came back around and we had the BEST interaction I think I’ve ever had with a character! I think she ended up spending like at least 15 mins “chatting” away with us. She had come back around and I tried to get the ball rolling by telling her my DF had a crush on her and then continued with telling her how we were getting married on the Boardwalk in a few days etc..Well! She was great! She mimed a whole conversation about Mickey and how she wanted to get married but he hasn’t given her a ring yet and DF kept piping in about how Mickey has the $, it’s not like he doesn’t etc. And she was like nodding her head as if to say “I know! Right?” It was hilarious! :lmao: Then, she sat down next to me! It was GREAT!! http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/minnie-and-me-at-Cape-May-B.jpg And we “chatted” some more…tee heehttp://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/me-and-Minnie-discuss-men-a.jpg.

Here's DF and his "bit on the side"
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/Eoghan-and-his-one-at-Cape-.jpg Here's Mnnie's reaction right after DF kissed her! (I missed that pic!) http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/Minnie-and-Eoghan-at-Cape-M.jpg
The food at Cape May was good too! Even though I started off feeling not so great about the meal etc…I can say now we’d definitely do it again! :thumbsup2 It’s way more relaxed than any other character breakfast I’d been to, the food was a little better too and the character interaction ended up being the best I’d ever experienced as of yet.
So, after breakfast the plan was to go to DTD, just for a couple of hours because I wanted to get one of those new Design your own tee Hanes shirts before our guests arrived, plus I really wanted to check out Trend-D.
We took the bus from Y&BC and hit the make your own tee shop first. I designed one and we ordered it and were told to come back in an hour to pick it up. So, next we headed over to the Christmas Shop just for the heck of it….and on the way over is where the entire rest of our Disney Wedding/Disneymoon trip would be affected. :sad2:
Ok, so we exit the t-shirt store and basically head to the left to enter the Christmas store in the back (where all the NBC stuff is)…well, throughout DTD they have these bushes planted in the middle of the buildings and around the bushes are bricks laid out. Now, the bricks are not flat like the cement and they are not built like a little step (or elevated) around the bushes either. They are put in at a slant. (Well, who knows how they were originally put in, but they’re on a slant now). So, I’m walking ahead of DF and he doesn’t walk exactly the path I’m walking, I go to cut across the bricks thinking they are flat and because I don’t look down at the ground when I walk but look up and straight ahead of me, I tripped and went flying. DF was too far back to catch me and I just couldn’t stop myself from falling. I fell forward and they way I fell I skinned my knee in not one, but two places. When I first fell, of course DF came running up to me asking me if I was ok and of course the first few seconds I didn’t even know. I waited to calm down a few minutes and looked down at my knee. There were 2 marks there like none I had ever seen before. :eek: They were both beet red, but there was no blood dripping, it was if the skin just came off and all the blood just rushed to the surface. They were the weirdest looking things I had ever seen. So, it was then that I decided I should try to stand up, just to make sure I could support my weight and I didn’t do any damage to my ankle or knee etc. I could get up without a problem and my knee just felt bruised and sore. But the scrapes were so bad I knew I had to get some help.
So, we walk into the Christmas shop and ask if they have first aid, they ask me what’s wrong and I showed them my knee and tell them I just fell outside on my way into the store. So the CM (who didn’t speak very good English) went and asked about a first aid kit and then told me I needed to go to Guest Services. When she showed me on the map where it was, I couldn’t believe they expected me to walk all the way there :mad:, I should have said something but didn’t.
So, we start our walk and find GS and wait on line and when it’s my turn to talk to a CM, I just backed up, moved over to where they could see my knee and told them I just fell outside the Christmas shop. There was a lot of hub bub about us all of a sudden….They had us sit in a VIP room of some sort and called the paramedics.
The paramedics finally came and cleaned the wounds, put some antibiotic ointment on and bandaged me up. They asked if I wanted to go to the hospital and I said no. 1. Because I didn’t think I needed to and 2. I honestly didn’t have the time if I hadn’t like broken anything or whatnot. They asked me to sign something and I looked at it and they told me it was just saying I didn’t need to/want to go to hospital…and it did say that, I just signed it. To be honest with you, I’m not one to jump and sue. Of course a lot of people told me I should because those bricks are a lawsuit waiting to happen, but I just don’t think it’s the right thing to do karma-wise….anyway…
They told me to keep it covered that night and by tomorrow it should be ok…(I can’t remember if I told them or not that I have diabetes)…..
Well, although battered and bruised we decided to finish up what we had to do at DTD. My knee bothered me a little bit but I just tried to suck it up and not think about it, thinking it will be ok in a couple of days (maybe it was wishful thinking on my part, but with my wedding 4 days away and DF’s family coming in from Ireland the next day I just couldn’t deal with anything more at that point).
So, let’s see…I know we went to WOD and Trend-D (it was ok, I wasn’t all that impressed and the items were even more pricey than Disney merchandise in other locations, hence we didn’t buy anything there). We did get a few things at WOD though. We also went into a few other shops that we wanted shop in that we like.
We went back to pick up my shirt which came out really cute actually http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/THE-tshirt.jpg and then decided to head out. I can’t remember now for sure, but I think we went back to BWI for a bit to drop off our stuff and relax (even for ½ hour) and then we decided to drive over to The Poly. I think I was thinking I wanted to go back and put my leg up if even for a little while (oh yeah! That’s right, because it was bleeding when I walked on it a lot, now I remember). So that’s what we did, it was good thinking on our part I think because I really needed to elevate/rest my leg if even for a short time. Some of you might want to look away for a moment, but here is a pic of my leg. It actually was taken the next day, but you get the idea...http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/knee-injury.jpg
So, we drive over to the Poly for dinner….the line was HUGE. Now I should just preface with…I have never eaten at O’hana before. But I was really looking forward to it as I have heard so many good things about it. I know for a lot of people it’s a “not-miss”. The food sounded yummy so I was interested to see if we’d like it as much as everyone else.
So, like I said the line was really long. We checked in, got our pic taken (which we didn’t buy), got our leis, and had a seat at the bar (not for a drink, just because I needed to sit down). We didn’t wait long and we were brought to our table (and got some yummy bread). So, here we are on our Disney Wedding/Honeymoon trip and we get seated right next to the part of the floor where the coconut races and all the other kids activities are held. Oh my. Needless to say, neither of us were happy with where we were seated but for some reason didn’t say anything and it was…..loud. And not like Drizella and Anastasia funny loud either, not loud in a good way. The service was a bit slow, the food was interesting I guess, I didn’t think it was as great as everyone says. We had to wait a LONG time in between everything we were served. Our server was nice though and friendly. So, it wasn’t that the wait times for food was her fault. Ok, so it then starts to become apparent that there is a problem in the kitchen (or where they grill everything, you all know, in the front of the restaurant when you come in). We wait and we wait, We had already been served 2 of the 4 skewers and it was taking so long the server kept coming over to tell us the rest of the food was on it’s way. We were getting impatient because we saw lots of other people being served….Finally the chef comes over to explain that they are having an exhaust problem and until it is fixed, they cannot use the grills. It’s then it really starts to dawn on us how smoky the restaurant is getting. It keeps getting smokier and smokier and then I realize that all of the families who were there with kids (which was basically the entire restaurant) were leaving due to the smoke. The manager came over and said we were welcome to stay and wait or if we wanted to leave we could get some sort of credit or something. We looked at each other and decided to stick it out. Not really for the food, but I think we were both so happy for the quiet after everyone left, it was nice to just sit and relax together, so we wanted to grab the opportunity to do so after a somewhat stressful day. But they weren’t letting anyone else come in the restaurant at this time due to the smoke and I guess they didn’t even know if they could turn the grills back on at all that night. In essence, the restaurant was temporarily closed as we (and a few others) sat and waited…
In the meantime my wedding coordinator calls me on my cell to give me some bad news….
Here’s the backstory on this:
We had booked the Model A Ford for the wedding. http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/Ford-Model-A.jpg Before we left to come to WDW I was told that there was something wrong with the Model A and they were scouring high and wide for another antique car for us to substitute because the part the owner needed would not come in in time for our wedding. (See, with our wedding package a limo was included for 4 hours, but it was a White stretch limo and it was sooo not us, we just couldn’t do it, so we used it for our guests’ transportation to the wedding and we upgraded to the only Black-or nonwhite car that Disney Weddings offered, the Model A). So instead of the Model A, they found us a Touring Cadillac from 1920 which was used in some Lucille Ball movie and had a huge rip in the back of the driver’s seat (see pic)http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/22Cadillac.jpg…I wasn’t too happy about that, but it was explained to me that they couldn’t fix the rip because then it would alter the condition/value of the vehicle etc…I figured our photographer could Photoshop out the rip or the drivers’ back would block it…plus the fact that it was used in a Lucille Ball movie was tres cool we thought….

Ok, so here we are at our smoky dinner and my WC calls to tell me that when the owner of the Cadillac took it out to get it ready for our wedding, it had a flat tire!! And of course it would take too long to get a replacement tire because it’s vintage etc….so they found another Model A but there’s only one thing…it’s not Black. It’s like a Navy Blue type color. Sigh…
“Well,” I say “I’m sure it will be ok, it might even look better, more interesting in the photos”…We had to go to Franck’s the next day anyway and drop off stuff we had brought with us for the wedding to our floral coordinator so there would be a picture of the car waiting for us when we got there so we could see it. I really wasn’t that worried about it. We wanted a vintage car that was not White. So consequently, no Bridezilla moment ensued.

So, I get off the phone, we wait more for the rest of our food and we finally finish our dinner. The original plan was to head over to MK and just get in and watch Wishes from Main Street (something DF still hadn’t done) but by the time we were done with dinner I was too tired and also didn’t think standing on my leg for like an hour or so that night was such a great idea. So, we went home to BW and watched IllumiNations from our balcony instead. I elevated my leg, the night air was cool and comforting, it was very relaxing for both of us. I called my mom and told her how much we loved BW (she’s be staying there as well) and about my fall. I didn’t want to worry her too much so tried to play it down as much as possible.

We turned in because we knew we had a long day ahead of us and DF’s family were arriving.

Next up: Meeting some of DF’s family for the first time and dinner at Artist Point…repeat after me..mmmmm….Berry Cobbler…..

[lurkyloo]

Yay! Update! :banana: I am very squeamish, though, so I had to skim the part where you hurt your leg. :faint: If it was that gruesome to read about, I can't even imagine how horrible it was to experience! :hug:

Thanks for the tip about Splash Mountain at night. I have never done that, even at Disneyland, cuz I always think I will be too cold from being wet. I will have to try it in the dead of summer some time...

[Petals & Pixie Dust]

YEAH an update...Sounds like the paramedics made you sign the standard refusal form which basically says they offered to take you to the hospital and you said no.
Sorry O'hanna's seemed like a bust...kind of. One of the reasons I think Df and I stay away from there is b/c it gets loud...it always seems so busy just looking from the outside in...
Cape May sounded like fun! I need to add that to the list. :thumbsup2

[Lorelei528]

Yay! Update! :banana: I am very squeamish, though, so I had to skim the part where you hurt your leg. :faint: If it was that gruesome to read about, I can't even imagine how horrible it was to experience! :hug:

Thanks for the tip about Splash Mountain at night. I have never done that, even at Disneyland, cuz I always think I will be too cold from being wet. I will have to try it in the dead of summer some time...

It was a pretty horrific experience. And not just for that day, but it ends up having an effect on most of the rest of the days of our trip! (But thank goodness, NOT our wedding day!)

YEAH an update...Sounds like the paramedics made you sign the standard refusal form which basically says they offered to take you to the hospital and you said no.
Sorry O'hanna's seemed like a bust...kind of. One of the reasons I think Df and I stay away from there is b/c it gets loud...it always seems so busy just looking from the outside in...
Cape May sounded like fun! I need to add that to the list. :thumbsup2

Yep, that's pretty much what the form said. I still can't believe that no one from Disney followed up with a phone call to see how I was doing...
I had heard O'hana gets loud, but you know, it's hard to gauge what others think is loud..well now I know! :rotfl: I kind of wish I knew more about the coconut races and all of the children though. I just thought it would be like regular family restaurant loud...and I wasn't all that impressed with the food either, if I was, I might even be able to talk me and DH into going again, but we just weren't very impressed at all. (We eat breakfast there later in the trip and enjoy that more).

Cape May Buffet is GREAT! I definitely recommend it!! It's just more relaxed and not as loud or hectic as the other character breakfasts. It's on our list for future visits for sure! :thumbsup2

[Lorelei528]

So the next morning we had ADR’s for the Princess Breakfast at Akershus. We actually really enjoyed it on our last trip and were looking forward to it. However, we still had to get all the welcome bags done and delivered and we had to get to Franck’s to drop off the wedding items that needed to be dropped off (menu cards, placecard holders, placecards, votive candles, personalized napkins for our dessert party etc.). This all had to be done before DF’s family arrived. Their flight was supposed to get in at 3:50 I think it was, so we figured they would be to POR by 6ish. So, erring on the side of caution, plus having learned the hard way, I know now that it is always best to cushion time needed because the majority of the time, things take longer to accomplish then you think they will. All that considered, plus my leg/knee not feeling 100%, knowing we would also be eating breakfast at Akershus the next week with DH’s family, we decided to bag on the princesses that morning. I was just nervous we wouldn’t get everything done in time, plus I just wasn’t feeling that great and wasn’t in the mood that morning (stress level I guess).

So, what are our choices for breakfast then? I figured Boardwalk Bakery was our best bet and even though I was not eagerly looking forward to it based on a photo of the breakfast sandwich I had seen, I figured we’d try it out anyway. So, we get ourselves downstairs and check out the Bakery. The line wasn’t too long, we used CS credits and both of us got the Bacon, Egg and Cheese Croissant sandwich with coffee and bottles of water. There were plenty of tables outside and it was still pretty nice out (because in the next day or so, it gets VERY hot-even CM’s were telling us it was more like summer).
Ok, so let me just tell you….the sandwiches were YUMM-O!!! (nod to Rachel Ray). I mean, they were pretty basic and I can’t tell you why we both liked them so much but we did. First of all they were huge and not greasy AT ALL. You had to eat them with a knife and fork they were so big! Plus, something about maybe the croissant being baked fresh(?) made the entire sandwich taste just really fresh. Even the eggs were like farm-fresh or something, who knows?
Anyway, I can safely recommend BoardWalk Bakery now for breakfast sandwiches…and of course everyone knows that all the baked goods there are delicious!! So, all in all, let’s give it a 9 out of 10 just for the heck of it.
So, after breakfast, we go back up to the room to work on the Welcome Bags. We used the reusable WDW bags that I discovered on our last trip and I ordered them via the phone from home (thinking they might not have them when we went back, but they did which is great, because I think they are awesome!). http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/welcome-bags.jpg
In each bag was a bottle of water with a strap, 2 packets of tissues, anti-bacterial gel, 2 packs of gum, Shout wipes, a bookmark favor, a pen, 2 Disney nail files/emory boards and an info packet for the wedding with personalized itineraries. Some of the bags had t-shirts (like for my mom, my neice-MOH, DH's mom and Dh's bro). Here are some pics of what we put in the bags
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/everthing-on-the-bed-welcom.jpghttp://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/good-pic-of-welcome-bag-stu.jpg
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/shoutwipes-tissues-anti-bac.jpghttp://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/tshirts-and-water-bottle-st.jpg
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/welcome-bag-stuff-on-bed.jpghttp://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/bookmarks-pens-and-nail-fil.jpg

It took a little while to get everything together, so when we were done, we drove over to POR to deliver the bags for DF’s family and CBR for one of my brothers and sister in laws and my step-niece who would be arriving the next day. Then we went to Franck’s to drop off the stuff for Rosie our floral, photo and entertainment co-ordinator. I had a warning from a previous Disney Bride that sometimes the guests don’t receive their welcome bags so at POR I was pretty nervous because the CM there didn’t seem to have a clue. I was already thinking it would be a good thing that DF and I would be there when his family arrived to check in, so I could make sure they got their bags. The CM’s at CBR though were great. The first one I spoke to didn’t really know what to do with them, but she checked with a supervisor and the supervisor came right over to me to tell me not to worry, they’ll make a note on the reservation and they will keep them in the back until they arrive.
Stopping by Franck’s was fun. Quite different from the last time we were there in Sept. Being an intimate or “Escape” wedding, you don’t get a planning session at Franck’s like the Wishes brides do, so when we were there the last time just to look around, we felt a bit out of place to be honest. But now, the receptionist totally knew who we were and was expecting us plus she had the print out of the photo of the Navy Model A to give us.
It looked great in the picture, so we were fine with it and the receptionist called our WC Tanis so we could tell her ourselves.

Then it was back to BW to rest up and try to relax a bit before DF’s family arrived. We decided to drive over to POR because we weren’t sure about the logistics for after dinner at Artist Point. The initial plan was to get a bus over to POR and then bus to MK and boat to WL for dinner so that DH’s family could see the Disney Transportation system and how great it was (also how big WDW is). And then either take separate cabs back to our resorts or get back to the MK and then take buses. But the more I thought about it, the more iffy the after-dinner Disney transportation seemed to be because we’d be getting out so late, so I just figured we’d end up taking cabs. So, we decided to drive over to POR. We figured if we got there by like 5:30-6, we’d be fine. I really wanted us to be there when they arrived by DME.
Well, it gets to be like I don’t know…6:30 and I realize that if they don’t get there soon, we’ll be late for our 8:00 ADR at Artist Point! :scared1: DF starts calling his mom’s cell phone. They had landed and were waiting for the DME. To be honest with you, I’m not sure what the problem was :confused3 , but it took them FOREVER to get to the resort. Oh yeah, and I think they were also kept late at Dublin Airport because they were waiting on some connecting flight or something so they landed at MCO late as well. Anyway, I go over to the concierge and tell him the situation to see if they can help. They weren’t really that helpful. :mad: They told me Artist Point could really only hold the reservation for 15 mins. and probably the best thing to do would be to take cabs over. So, I go out to talk to the valet about the timing etc. because we didn’t want to call the cab too early obviously and have it wait there. We kept calling DF’s mom to find out where they were. When they finally got there, we basically had to have bell services hold all of their bags (because they didn’t have time to go to their room) and we checked them in.

OK, so before I go on with the rest of my TR…I must preface the next week with this…I do not hate or dislike my MIL or any of DF’s family. LOL…I have realized as I’m writing this TR, that throughout the next week of the trip report there were some pretty stressful situations but understand it was very difficult having to be the hostess but also be able to enjoy my own wedding and honeymoon trip. I hope I don’t come off as bridezillaey at all, I don’t think I do and really, my MIL is really great and I love her, she just kind of makes me nutty sometimes. (as well as DF’s aunt)…so please don’t judge me or DF’s family with what I write. I thought about leaving this type of stuff out, but really couldn’t, because some of the TR might not have made sense otherwise. Many of you (and most probably all brides in general) will probably understand about the stress etc.

Ok, so on with the TR! And remember…I really don’t hate my DF’s family! :lmao:

Hold on, because there’s more problems :rollseyes: ...ok, so there are 6 of them. DF’s parents and his brother (who is 24), and DF’s aunt and uncle and then one other aunt. When the whole initial planning for the Disney Wedding came up, I suggested resorts for everyone to stay in. I suggested ASMovies, POR and BW. Of course as many of you will attest to, there is usually a good amount of guests (including family) who end up not wanting to take your advice etc. in the beginning when you announce your wedding plans. For example, I think if you have a bigger wedding, and some people don’t want to stay on property, it’s not that big of a deal (especially if they have use of a car). Well, my FMIL and I actually had a conversation about her inviting all these extra people and getting a house etc. :eek: See, the thing is, I could only have 20 people total at the wedding including DF and I, and not just the ceremony, but the dinner and the dessert party as well. Plus, my mom who was basically paying for the wedding couldn’t really afford any more people. Anyway, because none of DF’s family had never been to WDW before, and not knowing really ANYTHING about it at all just didn’t understand that if you were there for your son’s wedding and weren’t going to rent a car, it really would be inconvenient to stay off property…
Ok, so anyway, FMIL kind of had to go back and uninvite people which was probably uncomfortable for her, but I do think she should have asked questions about the logistics and the wedding planning in general first, but she didn’t…
So, after realizing they wouldn’t stay off property with like 20 people from Ireland, we briefly looked into a Grand Villa at BW for the 6 of them, but found out they were very hard to come by. So, I wasn’t sure how else to direct them, so they ended up getting 2 rooms at POR. Now, I would have thought they would have gotten 3 rooms and I distinctly remember asking DF “you mean your aunt is going to stay in the same room as your aunt and uncle?” :eek: (Thinking this would be a bit weird, but since I had never met them before thought maybe they were totally ok with it). I even think I was talking to FMIL once on the phone and mentioned briefly something about only booking 2 rooms, but she said it was fine…
Ok, so flash forward to having all of DF’s family checking in….I don’t remember exactly how the order of who checked in first etc., but somehow it came up that DF’s aunt was in the same room as the other aunt and uncle…and all of a sudden it was a problem. :rolleyes2 For some reason, they were all under the assumption that there were 2 bedrooms (?!?!?) in one room (like a suite or something?)? The thing that got me is DF’s mom actually was talking to the manager and said something like “well, I distinctly said that there were 3 adults, 1 couple and 1 single in the room” (meaning I guess that Disney would somehow know that they didn’t want to be in the same room or something?) And I was thinking and then the manager said out-loud exactly what I was thinking...”Well, ma’am, we can’t assume by just how many people in the room there are that you need separate sleeping quarters etc.”
Meanwhile, I mean, it’s not like she ever asked me, otherwise I would have told her to book a jr. suite at CSR or All Stars (what is it, Music or Sports?). They didn’t want to spend the extra money for another room, so the 3 ladies stayed in one room and the men in the other. I don’t know how they felt about that and they probably thought it was Disney’s fault, but it wasn’t. They did get pull-out beds/cots though.
Ok, so we’re all checked in finally and went outside to get our cabs to WL for dinner…..

Oh! And they got their welcome bags no problem…(more about these later in this TR)

With all the delays, even with taking cabs, we were still like at least 20 mins late for dinner…so when we get to WL, I tell DF, “I’ll run to AP and tell them we’re here at least and then you just meet me at the podium”…I told him where the restaurant was and besides we had been there on our previous trip, so I didn’t think it was going to be a problem, well, I go running through the lobby to AP and check us in. I explain the situation and how my DF’s family just flew in from overseas yadda, yadda, yadda, they were very nice and accommodating actually. So I wait and wait for DF and his family…I started to feel stupid…I start thinking to myself…”what’s taking them so long”…I walk back into the lobby expecting them to be like right there by the pin kiosks (you know the ones) walking over but I don’t even see them at all! They’re all still standing by the front door of WL! I am waving them over, they still don’t seem to be moving, so I walk back over…I ask DF why he wasn’t walking over to the restaurant and I get the ‘ol “Oh, I didn’t know we were supposed to meet you over there” :mad: I calmly tell him that I told him to meet me over there when we got out of the cab and then because I wanted to avoid having a disagreement right then, just let it go and tried to herd everyone back to AP for our dinner…I mean, I knew they were all going to do the expected “look up and marvel at WL”, but I thought they would at least walk over slowly at the same time… ;)

So, there are 8 of us total and we are seated for dinner. DF and I were on the Deluxe DP, but everyone else was on the regular one. So we had appetizers (I had the Selection of Artisan Cheeses which I had the last time as well - I love it. FMIL shared it with me and DF got the Mixed Greens Salad which we shared).
So I don’t know why they couldn’t wait until we weren’t at dinner (like back in their room or something) or even until the wedding day :confused3 , but they start giving us all these gifts and envelopes…I mean, we loved the beautiful gifts, but there was nowhere to put anything and we didn’t have any bags with us or anything….it was a bit stressful, opening all these gifts and envelopes and trying to have conversation with DF’s aunts and uncle who I had never met and eat our appetizers. I felt kind of pressured to open everything then and there (I think I even tried to say something like, “I’ll just open them later when we get back to the room” and FMIL said something like “oh, just open them now, we want to see…” sigh.
So, dinner was delicious and I think they were impressed with the food and the service (which was fabulous). DF and I got personalized menus and I know they all got a kick out of that. Plus the server kept coming back because he wasn’t sure what to print on the menu-I didn’t know what was so hard really, but it was very sweet of him.
So, months and months before the wedding I decided I wanted to treat my FMIL and DF’s aunts to a manicure (if they wanted one) before the wedding. I would need one for sure, so I thought it would make for some nice bonding time between me and the ladies in DF’s family. Well, I had called Periwig’s months before the wedding to ask about it and they gave me all the info (prices, etc.) and they told me they had a 2 hr. cancellation policy (I think it’s 2 hours)…they also told me I didn’t need to book the manis until 2 weeks ahead of time. So, I had talked to FMIL on the phone about the manis and told her I would like to treat the ladies etc. and could she ask them if it was something they would like to do. I don’t think I mentioned about the cancellation policy, I told her I needed to know because depending on how many were getting done, it would decide what time I needed to make the appt. for etc. So she got back to me the next time we talked and told me they thought that would be lovely etc….
So, before I actually booked the manis, I got in touch with her again, I think via e-mail and just confirmed about the aunts again…(again, maybe this was my fault and I should have mentioned the cancellation policy, but I thought it would sound like, not nice or something). Again I was told they would like to have the manis.
So, during dinner at AP, at some point one of DF’s aunts says something about how she and the other aunt are just going to sleep in and going to skip the manis…:furious: Ok, see, the problem was the appts were for 10am and Periwig’s opens at 9am, which meant if I wanted to cancel, I would have needed to do so by like 5pm that night before they closed. I didn’t really react to what she said because you know, I had just met them, but that meant I was going to be out $70! I kept my mouth shut though…(but of course I was understandably a bit pissed off). And I will just say that when I write about the next day in this TR, you’ll see that the aunts didn’t sleep in anyway and were up in plenty of time to have made the manis!!
So we finish up dinner. We were there for a long time, I knew we would be because DF hadn’t seen his mom and dad for a year and he hadn’t seen his aunts and uncle for like more than 7 years! (And although they were 5 hours ahead of us, they really needed to relax and unwind and more than one bottle of wine was ordered and enjoyed!)
So, (man, I’m saying that a lot!), dinner really was lovely….both DF and I ordered the Beef Tenderloin which we had the last time and LOVED. It was much better than the steak at Le Cellier we both thought. And for dessert we both got the Berry Cobbler because you know…there is nothing like it in this world LOL and last time we only got one and something else and shared and it just didn’t work out. Neither of us was happy. LOL
So, this time we knew we would each order one. :D
We go outside and order our cabs from the valet. We didn’t have to wait long at all actually. But what was kind of funny is FMIL was all nervous that the cab driver didn’t know where to go by me just telling him “Port Orleans Riverside”! Tee hee. Newbies.
We get back to POR and we get one of the bell services dudes with one of those golf cart thingys to help with the bags. He somehow managed to fit all of us AND the bags and we drove over to their building. I had requested either second floor Magnolia Terrace or second floor Oak Manor for them and they got 2nd floor Magnolia Terrace so that was good. They seemed to be happy enough with the rooms but I do have to say I still think that POR looks old and worn. I don’t think I would want to stay there to be honest. In hindsight I should have recommended CBR to them…oh well. Anyway, it turns out the CM at check-in wrote down the wrong room # for one of the rooms!! Thank goodness the bell guy was there, so he got it sorted out and finally we let DF’s family settle in. We arranged with FMIL and DF’s brother to pick them up the next day as the next morning was the tux fitting back in our room and now that it was only FMIL and me for the manicures I figured the two of us could walk over to Periwig’s together after we all got a quick bite for breakfast at the Bakery and that way she could be there to see her two sons get fitted for their tuxes! Then we’d meet everyone else at DS…

We bid DF’s family good-night. We headed back to BW and hit the hay, as we knew now the busyness was now really going to start!

Up Next: DS including Sci-Fi, ToT and the beginning of the coming together of the families!

[PrincessShea]

:lmao: I'm rolling here with all your DH's family stories. I totally relate to having to be the ring leader. I think that's one thing a lot of people don't realize about being an escape bride...it's probably HARDER to have a small party rather than a big one. If you invite 75 people; well they are pretty much on their own. If you only have 10 people at your wedding, well, brace yourself for being "tour guide/bride" the rest of the trip ;)

[Petals & Pixie Dust]

:lmao: I'm rolling here with all your DH's family stories. I totally relate to having to be the ring leader. I think that's one thing a lot of people don't realize about being an escape bride...it's probably HARDER to have a small party rather than a big one. If you invite 75 people; well they are pretty much on their own. If you only have 10 people at your wedding, well, brace yourself for being "tour guide/bride" the rest of the trip ;)

AUGH! This is what I have to look forward to??? *panic*

Loving the TR...More please popcorn::

[lurkyloo]

Oh my gosh - that part about relatives staying off property but not renting a car actually happened to us! It resulted in DH having to take a 2-hour cab ride (the cabbie got lost) in the middle of the night back to his folks' cheap-o condo b/c his ride, his brother, decided not to rent a car and then at the last minute switched accomodations to crash with our guests who were staying at WDW cuz - surprise surprise - it was too hard to get out to said crappy condo. :headache:

So I have a small inkling of the hassles you had to go through to coordinate everyone... :hug:

Also, did I spot *my* welcome bag in some of those pictures? :cutie:

[Lorelei528]

:lmao: I'm rolling here with all your DH's family stories. I totally relate to having to be the ring leader. I think that's one thing a lot of people don't realize about being an escape bride...it's probably HARDER to have a small party rather than a big one. If you invite 75 people; well they are pretty much on their own. If you only have 10 people at your wedding, well, brace yourself for being "tour guide/bride" the rest of the trip ;)

I know you all can relate!! And let me just say....I'm so glad you can!! It makes me feel better that I am not or wasn't alone in what I was going through! The whole time of the wedding/honeymoon and all the family stress I thought about my fellow DISbrides A LOT!!!
And you know what? I think you're right and I had that thought! I think it is tougher when you have fewer people because usually it's just close family and they want to spend time with you! (Especially in our case with DF's family!)
And I hate to say it...but there's more coming! (not family, but family related stresses!) :rotfl: (Just not right now, I'm still writing)

AUGH! This is what I have to look forward to??? *panic*

Loving the TR...More please popcorn::

yep, it's a bit stressful! BUT that being said, our wedding day was PERFECT! I swear I really can't think of anything that went terrifically wrong! There were a couple of things I wouldn't have done or done differently, but I'll review at the end of the TR...
So, don't worry, along with a bit of stress, you're going to have the most amazing wedding day! :goodvibes

Oh my gosh - that part about relatives staying off property but not renting a car actually happened to us! It resulted in DH having to take a 2-hour cab ride (the cabbie got lost) in the middle of the night back to his folks' cheap-o condo b/c his ride, his brother, decided not to rent a car and then at the last minute switched accomodations to crash with our guests who were staying at WDW cuz - surprise surprise - it was too hard to get out to said crappy condo. :headache:

So I have a small inkling of the hassles you had to go through to coordinate everyone... :hug:

Also, did I spot *my* welcome bag in some of those pictures? :cutie:

OMG!!! That would have TOTALLY stressed me out!! You probably have written about it in your wedding TR but I can't remember all the details! Like I said, it's soooo good to know that us Disney Brides are not alone in our stress! (Hence, the huge smile and look of relief I gave you when I saw you!) ;)

Yep! You spotted it! That is in fact the welcome bag I was working on for Lurkyloo who will show up later in my TR! (Wedding Day to be exact!)


Glad your'e enjoying my TR so far! I'm working on the next installment I promise! :)

Thanks for reading everyone!

[Lorelei528]

First off-2 things-

1. There's only 1 pic in this installment. We didn't take like any the whole day. I've even checked DF's family's pics, and not many were really taken that day for some reason..so I'm sorry for lack of pics yet again! But next installment, there will be loads more and the wedding pics are right around the corner too!:goodvibes

2. As you can tell, my TR's are pretty wordy...I guess that's my style, so hopefully I don't lose too many readers with my longwindedness! :)


We got a pretty good night’s sleep if I remember correctly. My leg wasn’t really bothering me, but I kept it covered with the dressings the paramedics gave me because it hadn’t scabbed over yet. And it finally stopped bleeding when I walked, so that was good I figured.
We left BW at around 7:40am to pick up FBIL and FMIL. We got them around 8am and went back to BW for the fitting. We actually were like 10 mins late because it took so long to get to their rooms from where we parked the car at POR and walk back. By the time we got back to BW, Carolyn Allen’s had been there and left :eek:, but they called our cell, so we called them back and they hadn’t gone too far thank goodness, so they turned around and came back to the room for the fitting. Not too many changes needed to be made to either tux and it really didn’t take too long. We headed down to the Bakery to grab a bite before FMIL and I walked over to Periwig’s. Of course today there was a line. We found a table outside again and we sat and ate our breakfast sandwiches.
The plan was for DF and his bro to just hang out and relax on the BW for an hour while FMIL and I were getting our manis. (Again, they hadn’t seen one another for a year, so it wasn’t like it was a problem for them to sit and relax and talk). Then afterwards we would meet the rest of DF’s family (dad, uncle and 2 aunts) at Disney Studios.
FMIL and I walk over to Periwig’s, it’s quite the long walk! I didn’t expect it to be so long, but it was nice…except for when FMIL says to me during the conversation “…well, we must get to NASA and to the outlets…” :furious: Of course I was reacting on the inside, but kept my cool….again, for an entire year she never mentions any of this to me and I had asked her if they would want to join DF and I for all of our meals or just some etc. (I needed to know this for ADR’s) and if they would want to hang with us or go off on their own etc. She told me they would definitely join us for meals while they were there and would spend time with us…(which was fine with both DF and I)
OK, so when she drops the NASA /outlet center line on me, I responded with something like “Well, the thing is, I think you need a car to get to those places, especially NASA…and I wouldn’t know anything about how to get there or anything…” She responds with “Well, I’m sure they have bus tours from the hotel...” I say “Well…I don’t think so,” (thinking why would Disney tell you how to leave property and spend your $ elsewhere?!?!) “but I suppose you can ask. The thing is, I don’t really know when you’ll have time…I mean, everyone is arriving tomorrow and the wedding is Friday and my family will be here through Sunday…” (meaning me and DF would not be going to NASA or anywhere) “…so that really only leaves you Monday…” The subject was then kind of dropped. I mean, I won’t get into how it made me feel, but I was not very happy. I worked my butt off trying to plan out the week for them so they wouldn’t have to think about anything and just enjoy and have fun, eat good meals etc…and she never mentioned to me once that they wanted to go anywhere off property etc...
Anyway, that crisis averted, we get to Periwig’s and enjoy our manicures. While we were checking in FMIL then mentions something about coming back during the week for a pedicure! :rolleyes: It was then that I realized she has no idea what she’s doing! LOL…first she wants to go to NASA and the outlets and now she’s planning on coming all the way back to Y&BC for a pedicure sometime? I think she was thinking that if we were (well, I) was going to get charged for the 2 who didn’t come she could use the $ towards a pedicure…but again, it’s 2 totally different things which I don’t think she realized…

Ok, anyway, she mentioned something to me about how she would pay for them (the aunts) at breakfast, but then when she mentioned it again (when we were in Periwig’s), she kind of complained about having to pay $70. I was thinking, well, that’s why I asked you twice if they wanted to get manicures, but didn’t want to come off nasty, so I didn’t say a thing. It turns out, the lady who did our nails didn’t charge us for the aunts (phew!) Both of the manicurists were VERY nice and I really got to relax and enjoy. I would highly recommend the services (well, at least the manicure!) at Periwig’s. :thumbsup:

Ok, ready for the next crisis? Well, I tried to tell everyone how important it was to always carry their keys/tix with them as they are not just room keys and they will need to have them in order to get into the parks…
Well, FMIL and I are getting our nails done and she starts getting texts from the aunts that they are already at DS and FMIL has one of the aunts room keys so she can’t get in! Oy! :eek: First of all, they pretty much texted as soon as we sat down to our manis, so of course I was thinking, why couldn’t they have just come here then? It was obvious they didn’t sleep in :mad: …then I’m stressing because the poor aunt is sitting outside the turnstiles, waiting for FMIL in the heat (it was like 89 or something out that day and sunny) and we weren’t going to be there for like an hour or so! I suggested the rest of the group go back through the gates and take the boat over here, just to kill some time but of course they didn’t like that idea…

Geez, they all just got there the night before and there were already too many things going wrong! I really tried to hold myself together…

We finally finish our manicures and text DF and his bro to walk over and meet us. So we wait for them and then take the boat over to DS. We get there and find the aunt and we all enter the park! :banana: (Finally!) We get our pic taken by the Photopass photog http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/Photopass%20wedding%20trip/Image28.jpg
and make our way over to ToT and RnRC first before our 2pm lunch ressie at Sci-Fi.
What I usually do, which I think is what many do, is get a FP for RnRC and ride ToT then, ride RnRC with FP. So, we did just that. So, I knew that the ladies wouldn’t go on any roller coasters or ToT. I mean, I knew that going in to this…but I figured DF’s dad would try a couple of them. So, thinking it was going to be me, DF, FBIL and FFIL and maybe uncle, I was bummed out when all of a sudden I turned around and FFIL was gone and although I suggested to the ladies to wait on the line with us so they could at least get the effect of the design of the ride, the theming etc. (plus it was cooler on the line then not) and figured they could just do the chicken out way as we got further up, FFIL leaves with FMIL and the 2 aunts. And the thing is, they don’t tell us where they’re going or where they’re going to wait for us or anything! When we entered the park, I suggested to everyone they take maps just for this type of situation, but of course…they didn’t.

Ok, whatever, so we wait on the line and it goes fairly quickly and I just have to say I loved DF’s uncle! I thought it was totally cool that he was going to go on! I was VERY impressed! So, ToT was great of course and they really enjoyed it too! I was really glad that their first ride at WDW was met with such laughter and fun. :yay: It made me really happy. So, then we have to wait around for DF to text his mom (overseas phones don’t work for calling here unless you set it up before you come over and I think it’s very expensive, so they could only text the whole time they were here) and find out where they are. They’re at Starring Rolls! So we find them and there they are sitting and munching away…(I’m thinking-ok, we’re eating lunch in like 1 hour the most…).
Ok, so now would be a good time to tell you all that DF and I bought the Birnbaum’s book for everyone coming and mailed them out like 4 months before the wedding figuring it would give everyone enough time to read up a bit about WDW. Maybe it was wrong of me to assume that if people are spending all this $ to come to our wedding and to vacation at WDW that they’d want to know some stuff before they arrive. All I can tell you it was about now in the trip I started to realize that none of DF’s family read (or even opened the books) because every ride I went to take them on, they had literally no idea about. They would ask me what we were doing next and I’d answer and they’d always follow it up with “What’s that?”…After the first day, I just started laughing with DF and saying “If you read the book, you’d know”. :lmao: Because it’s pretty common among Disney Brides that you don’t want to have to keep repeating everything for 20 people for like a week. I figured the books would help them and also help us.
So along with the “What’s that?” question one of the aunts started following it up with “do you sit for it?”…. :eek:

Ok, so when we meet them at Starring Rolls this same aunt says to me “I don’t want to go on anything where you have to sit.” :eek: I was like “Whaaaa…..?” (You’re on your feet walking around all day, why wouldn’t you want to sit?) Besides I was like thinking to myself, what the heck can we go on that you don’t have to sit?!?! Aargh!! (wait, it gets better)
I’m pretty sure we did one thing before lunch…but can’t remember for sure what. I’m thinking it was Voyage of the Little Mermaid though for some reason. (Which means I basically ignored aunt’s comment about not sitting.) I didn’t do so to be mean, I was just like saying to myself…”you know what? I’ve been here 6 times, I know what I’m doing, they’re going to have a good time, they seem to be doubting and questioning me every turn. I’m just going to take whoever wants to go on whatever I think they’ll like and whoever doesn’t want to go, doesn’t have to…” And I’ll tell you what, this continues the whole week they’re there, but yet everything I took them on, that they actually went on, they LOVED.
So, we mosey over to Voyage of the Little Mermaid. I knew they were going to like it (well, maybe not the guys, though as we all know Ariel is hot). As we walked over, I hoped the show time would work out so that we could see it and be on time for our ADR at Sci-Fi. The timing worked out pretty much perfectly because we didn’t have to wait to get in! :yay: So, of course the questions start “What’s this Lori?” “Voyage of the Little Mermaid”. “What is it?” “It’s a show” “Do you sit down for it?” “Yes”…
I just walked right in to the waiting area and I’m sure they were maybe thinking they weren’t going to like it. But I was just going to soldier on…
So we enter the theatre and find our seats. It was of course nice and cool and relaxing and they loved (well, the ladies did anyway) the bubbles and the water spray. When it was over they all told me thanks and they really enjoyed it. (DF’s brother wasn’t too impressed, but he’s pretty laidback so he just kind of shrugged it off). We exit the show when FFIL realizes he left his sunglasses in the theatre! Oh man! So, we wait around awhile until they clear the theatre, but they can’t find them...
We walk over to Sci-Fi and wait for our tables. It made me feel good (validated) when DF’s family saw not one, but two, families get turned away for tables. I was hoping they would see that you really did have to book your meals 180 days ahead of time (well, 180 days back then) and that I planned special things for them and it took work to do…but I still don’t think it “clicked”…but then again, even DF is pretty spacey most of the time! (I do love him though!) :love:

I knew beforehand that one of the brides I had met via the DISbride board was going to be at Sci-Fi at 1:30, so I was hoping we’d find each other. Imagine my surprise and happiness when as we were about to sit down I hear “Lori! Lori!” really loud…LOL. It was Rachel! :yay: I was so happy to see her! Her and her (New) DH had just gotten married like 2 days before! :cool1: I was all excited and DF’s family probably thought I was nuts, but I didn’t care because I was so excited to see someone I “knew” who was also planning a wedding the same time as me and I wanted to congratulate her as well. So, DF and I went over to talk to them for a few mins and asked about their wedding and we said we’d try to meet up in MK the next day since we’d both be there, and if not they were going to come “crash” our Dessert Party the night of the wedding over in EPCOT along with some other Disney brides I knew from the DISbrides board. :banana:
We sat in 2 cars of 4 that were not next to each other but were close to each other. I am pretty sure that everyone was really liking the theming, although they kept pretty quiet (as I guess you can’t really talk too loud in there as everyone is watching the movie...). Maybe they weren’t impressed with the theming at all actually! :rotfl:…
Anyway, so I had my usual hamburger and so did DF. We got the Spinach and Artichoke Dip and the Mixed Greens salad to share for appetizers. I’m not sure exactly what everybody else got. DF’s mom and aunt sat in the car with us and DF’s bro, dad and aunt and uncle sat in the other car. I tried the sugar free brownie dessert and it was actually pretty good! DF had the Peanut Butter Chocolate Cake which we had last time and is delish! Then our server who was especially friendly and chatty and was all excited for us and our upcoming nuptials wanted to get a card for everyone to sign etc…
So, the meal was great and all, but it ended up taking much longer than I expected. It wasn’t that the service was slow, she was great, it was just that she wanted to go a bit above and beyond and it took up more time than expected. I think everyone was getting a little impatient and antsy…

After lunch the plan was to hit as many rides/attractions as possible before we had to leave to meet my brother, sister in law and (step)niece over at The Poly for our dinner ADR at Kona Café.
First, we walk over the The Muppets. I knew they would like it, plus I knew they knew the Muppets because I knew that The Muppet Show also was on Irish TV back in the day.
So, we enter the preshow area and of course it’s “Lori, what’s this?” “It’s the Muppets. It’s 3D. You’ll really like it! It’s great!” They actually followed me in (phew!) and we watched the preshow. I don’t know what they thought about it, but I was thinking/feeling they weren’t impressed. :confused3 We finally enter the theatre and I know there was quite a bit of chuckling going on, so I was thankful for that. When we exited, they all said how funny it was and that they really liked it. They might even have said it was “brilliant!”. I know I got that for a number of things I took them on throughout the week, just not sure if this was one of them.

Anyway, next up was the Backlot Studio Tour. Now, it’s not one of my faves and I certainly don’t go on it every trip, but I thought it would be something they might enjoy. (DF and I did do it on our last trip)
So we get on the line which was pretty much non-existent at the time and the CM goes through the whole “the tour takes 35-40mins” thing and I hear FMIL and DF’s aunts again behind me “I’m not standing for 35-40 mins. etc….” and instead of asking me or DF what the ride was (since you know, they didn’t read the book!) they just turned around and got off the line! :mad: Now I was sooo frustrated. First DF’s aunt says she doesn’t want to sit but what did they do the whole time waiting for us while we were on the ride ? They sat! LOL…oh man, there’s just no pleasing some people! When I asked DF why they didn’t go on, he said “they thought it was too long,” he said something like he thinks maybe they thought the wait was 35-40 mins! But again, they didn’t ask us…and I’m thinking wouldn’t you rather see something interesting and different than just sit for 40 mins.?
So, me, DF, DF’s bro and FFIL and DF’s uncle go on. It was fun, you know, I mean again, it’s not the greatest ride but when you see people’s faces who haven’t been on it ever before and you get to Catastrophe Canyon (and even though I don’t like the new version at all), it’s fun! Plus you just get to sit and relax for quite awhile which is nice.
So, as we exit the AFI part of the attraction, I get texts/missed phone calls from my bro who is arriving with my SIL and my niece…it turns out they made GREAT time getting from the airport to CBR and are back at the resort settling in etc. I’m not sure what time it was then, but I knew we still had plenty of time before our ADR at Kona for dinner (which was 8:10pm). I made it that late to cushion their arrival with plenty of time. Oh well. So, I told my brother they could unwind at CBR and/or head over early to The Poly if they wanted to look around there and we’d meet them around 8pm to check in for dinner.
Then it was back to trying to find FMIL and the aunts again since again of course they didn’t say where they were going to meet us…
We find them shortly thereafter thank goodness and when they ask how it was all the guys say “it was great, really enjoyable!” :)
Ok, so I knew we could only do a couple, maybe 3 more things before we had to leave and it was pretty darn hot. I knew they’d love GMR (even though again, not one of my must-do’s for every trip of mine and DF and I got stuck on it back in on our Sept. trip and had to walk out of the ride (from the Casablanca scene onwards)). So yet again, we’re entering the queue, and we’re in the part where you’re walking by all the costumes and again FMIL asks me “what's this Lori”(?!?!?) So, I reply politely, “it’s the Great Movie Ride, it’s really good, you’re really going to like it.” I think I was then even asked “Yes, but what is it?” Well, I can see the three of them all talking etc. and I think to myself, “Are you kidding me? They’re not going to go on this either?” :furious: I just kept walking because, you know people were coming in, and you can’t just stand in the middle of the maze thingy and hold people up while you decide if you want to go on it or not.
So, maybe it was because all these people started to file in but they actually decided to keep going and go on! (But I think DF told me it was because his dad said something to his mom!)
We really enjoyed it, they all laughed and our guide was ok. At least it didn’t break down! I think it might have gotten a “Brilliant”. LOL.

Well, after we exit the ride, we still had time, so we decide to head back to RnRC and see if we (me, DF, bro and unc) could get on. We wouldn’t be back in DS again, so, this was the only day to do it with DF’s family and I knew his brother wanted to go on. So, because most of the family didn’t seem too enthused about anything and did a lot of sitting (even though the aunt stated earlier she didn’t want to sit!) I decided that we’d go on RnRC pretty much no matter what. Dammit. Even DF’s uncle wanted to go on! :)
So, the line was long but as you know, it usually moves pretty fast. This time though of course, it didn’t. I’m not even sure how long the line was, it might have been 45 mins. even. But finally we got on!! FBIL and DF’s uncle LOVED it!! It was soooo much fun!! I’m so glad they got to ride it after all!
After RnRC, even though we still had some time, we decided to make our way over to the Poly. Everyone was a bit tired and cranky due to the heat so we needed to take our leave from DS.

We took the bus to The Poly to meet my bro and his family…

Next up: Dinner with some of my family at Kona, Chef Mickey breakfast, The MK and I promise...MORE pics!!! :woohoo:

[lurkyloo]

“I don’t want to go on anything where you have to sit.”


OK, this woman's mantra is the exact OPPOSITE of mine! :rotfl2: Also, you are soooooo lucky I hadn't heard the story of "What's this? Do I have to sit?" before we met up at MK, because I would have been saying it to you over and over the whole time just to get a rise out of you! :lmao:

I liked your one pic in the update. Who's the grumpy lady in the coral not smiling? Is that your MIL being steamed because there are no buses to whisk her away from Disney to all the other area attractions?

[Lorelei528]

OK, this woman's mantra is the exact OPPOSITE of mine! :rotfl2: Also, you are soooooo lucky I hadn't heard the story of "What's this? Do I have to sit?" before we met up at MK, because I would have been saying it to you over and over the whole time just to get a rise out of you! :lmao:

I liked your one pic in the update. Who's the grumpy lady in the coral not smiling? Is that your MIL being steamed because there are no buses to whisk her away from Disney to all the other area attractions?

Thanks for reading ;) And also thanks for making me laugh yet again! I wouldn't have been able to hold it together if you asked me "What's this? Do I have to sit?" when we met up!! LOL...and I needed a good laugh today! :)

The grumpy lady in the pic in the coral is actually DF's aunt. NO, not THE aunt, the aunt that actually was left outside DS becuase DMIL had her ticket!! (That's probably why she looked so grumpy!)

:flower3:

[Boardwalk_bride]

Lorelei,

Just wanted to let you know I stumbled across your MK/Epcot photo's today while doing a search, and I think they are amazing!!!! I actually pulled out a pen and paper and wrote a list of the ones I want to recreate from yours!!!

I cannot wait to read more:banana::banana::banana:

[Lorelei528]

Lorelei,

Just wanted to let you know I stumbled across your MK/Epcot photo's today while doing a search, and I think they are amazing!!!! I actually pulled out a pen and paper and wrote a list of the ones I want to recreate from yours!!!

I cannot wait to read more:banana::banana::banana:

Thanks! We're really happy with the way they came out! We had Regina and we really liked her a LOT!
ooh oooh!! :hyper: Which ones were your faves?

My next installment is right around the corner...

Thanks for reading and thanks for the 3 bananas!!! :yay:

[Boardwalk_bride]

I honestly loved them all!! Both of you are so adorable, and your smiles are so natural!! I really love main street in MK, so I was pumped to see others have lots of pic's there, so I know what they look like. I also think the ones of you in the bridge in Japan (I think it is Japan) are spectacular!!! Here are 3 more banana's :banana::banana::banana: :rotfl:

[Lorelei528]

Ok, I just want to start off by saying I hope it doesn’t sound like all I’m doing is complaining about DF’s mom and aunt. I’m really just telling you all how it happened. Plus, I know you all will understand. And all in all, DF/H and I were in WDW for like 2 weeks and the stresses and such didn’t ruin our trip or anything, they just kind of put a damper on it on some days. But believe it or not, there is actually more stress after the wedding! :lmao: But, the next few installments are pretty much stress free! YAY!! :yay: Which is good because we’re heading into…WEDDING TIME!! :bride: LOL.

The bus ride to The Poly was no problem. I actually was really looking forward to having some of my family around. And although I’m closer to my other brother’s family then the one whom we were about to meet up with, he was still my brother and my family and I was excited. :banana:

Ok, so, we get to The Poly and I really thought I’d hear some comments from the group about how lovely the resort was etc….but nothing. Ok, I know they travel the world and all, but still… :confused3

Anyway, I was always under the assumption that they will not check you in at the podium until your whole party is there…well, I can tell you now from experience this is totally not true! More than once (like twice at least) during this trip, my SIL was able to check us all in before we were even there! This happened at Kona actually and I was a little miffed because…

I get a text that they (bro etc.) are there and waiting at the bar over at O’hana (actually they didn’t even realize they were at O’hana, they just said they were waiting at the bar)…so when I finally found them and said hello I was so happy to see them! They tell me they have already checked us in…I say “Really? They usually don’t let you do that if your whole party is not here yet” I get “Well, I don’t know, but we checked in”. I’m like ok, whatever no biggie except for...

DMIL and the aunts decide they have to go change clothes and whatnot in the ladies room before they meet my brother and his family…so, we get buzzed on our pager thingy and there are still like 4 of us missing (the ladies and I think even the uncle)…(now you see why I was miffed that my SIL checked us in before we were even at the resort! But she didn’t really know, so it was no biggie)

So, everyone walks over to Kona while I try to get people to wait for the rest of our group. Only DF and one other person (maybe DFIL?) end up waiting…so what happens is the host/hostess doesn’t wait either and the group is shown over to the desserts etc. and then seated. So that means that the rest of the party misses out on the whole “dessert talk”. I really wanted everyone to get the whole Kona experience, but when I told them the hostess was going to show them the desserts, I get from the aunt “oh, we’re not interested in the desserts anyway” (!) :bitelip: I’m thinking “excuse me for trying to be a good hostess!” :mad: (And besides the desserts came with their meals!) sigh…whatever…

No biggie, I let it go and try to enjoy myself. We all sit down to dinner. Everybody gets along great and is having a really good time. :banana: I just reviewed everyone’s photos and it looks like nobody took any!!! Weird, but true. (sorry faithful readers!)
I can’t for the life of me remember what we had, but I know it was yummy! I really love Kona Café! It’s one of my faves! ::yes::
After dinner, we all take the monorail back to the MK and then we all take our respective buses back to our respective resorts (BW, CBR and POR). We kind of had to rush the end of dinner to make sure we could get a bus from MK so that kind of sucked, but it worked out ok.

The next morning we were all having breakfast at Chef Mickey at 10:05. We had to make it a later meal because Carolyn Allen’s was coming to steam my dress along with MOH and MOB dresses at 8am.
So, we made plans to meet up at Chef Mickey’s at about 9:50ish the next morning.

So, Carolyn Allen’s shows up and steams the dresses. It doesn’t take that long at all, and now my dress is out of the closet and hanging up in the room. I LOVE my dress! (sorry no pics yet! Well, actually, here’s a pic of my dress hanging up in our room at the inn where we had our at-home reception, so just picture this hanging up in a remodeled room at BW) ;)
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/dress-hanging-in-window-1-1.jpg
We head out to meet everyone at Chef Mickey’s. We take the bus to MK and then walked to CR because we were running late. Oh! So, another funny thing with DF’s family….the night before when I tell everyone how to get to Chef Mickey’s (even though specific directions are in everyone’s personal itineraries), I explain how easy it is-just take a bus to the Magic Kingdom from your resort and when you get off you can either take the monorail or walk to The Contemporary. Now, what I forgot to tell you all is the night before when we arrived via bus at The Poly, and the monorail was going above our heads as we walked into the resort, DF’s aunt and mom looked up and were like…scared! They were like “We’re going on that?” LOL..it was hilarious! :lmao: I’ve never known anyone to be afraid of the monorail before!! Everyone I have ever known has either loved it or couldn’t wait to ride it! The expressions on their faces were sooo funny! I mean, really….afraid? Of the monorail? :confused3

So, consequently, they were nervous about getting on it after dinner at Kona that night! It was pretty funny actually, the whole group is hurrying to get on and they just had to get on without stopping to think about it! (Funny, I had forgotten about this until I was writing it!)
Ok, so when we meet everyone in the little sitting area outside Chef Mickey’s (and I find out again that SIL had already checked us in even though our entire party wasn’t there yet). I had made a mental bet with myself (do you guys ever do that?) that DF’s family would walk to CR from MK rather than take the monorail (and not just because the ladies were afraid of it the night before either) So, when we get there, I work it into the conversation about asking them if they walked or took the monorail and of course they walked! LOL…
Anyway…we had to wait a fairly long time for a table. I was getting kind of embarrassed and annoyed but I kept forgetting, we had 11 people, so it would naturally take longer to set up etc…here's a pic of DF and his family waiting to be seated...
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/Delaneyclanatchefmickeybreakfast.jpg
We finally get seated!
So, this is the first character meal ever for everyone except for me and DF. I’m a huge character meal fan. Actually, I’m a huge character fan in general (you know, I’m one of those adults who have an autograph book for instance and has no problem waiting on long lines to get a picture taken with anyone from Jiminy Cricket to Ariel to Marie…)
Ok, so anyway, I’m thinking everyone is going to have a good time. And they did. Plus, you know, the food at Chef Mickey’s is good. I just had a really good feeling about this meal.
The thing is though, going to a character meal with more than like 4 people I realized is tough. There is absolutely no way that everyone is going to get their picture taken with each character. The way we were seated, the people on the bench side of the table could never get out before the character had to move on to the next table. Even though we were there for more than an hour, the meal felt very rushed. It was weird. But everyone liked it I know, you could just tell. It was just such a different experience for me than I was used to. But, that being said, I knew that this meal was more for my guests than for me :cutie: so as long as they enjoyed it, that was the most important thing.
Here are some pics of the breakfast (not many I know, but otherwise, it’s overkill)

Me and Eoghan
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/meandEoghanwithPlutoatChefMickey.jpg

Eoghan and my (step)niece
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/AngeliqueEoghanandMickeyatChefMicke.jpg

And here's our special dessert we got:
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/myspecialdessertatChefMickeys.jpg


One interesting thing though…I sat across from DF’s other aunt. She is very sweet. I really like her (she is the wife of the cool uncle). Anyway, she did at one point ask me about Sea World. She simply asked about it, she didn’t say that they simply MUST go there like FMIL did, but I didn’t get upset because even though it confirmed that they didn’t even look at the Birnbaum books I bought them (in fact it was during this meal that I just happened to have glanced towards FMIL who was sitting at the other end of the table and I saw her with some book about Orlando and it was definitely NOT the Birnbaums book I had bought her (them)). I was kind of fuming on the inside, but didn’t say anything at that point (DF and I talked about it later in the trip though and it made me happy when DF said to me, “Yeah, I know, I saw that! What was up with that?” It obviously bothered him as well.)
Anyway, I think this aunt thought that Sea World was part of WDW? The way she asked me though, the tone of her voice was so different than when FMIL asked about NASA or the outlets, it’s hard to explain though. So, I briefly answered her that it was somewhat close by but is not part of WDW. I couldn’t answer that well, because I have only been to Sea World once back in the seventies. I still couldn’t get them though…they had only seen 1 of 4 parks and they were asking about other things to go see? :confused3 I probably would have understood if they had been to all 4 parks and then asked about Sea World, but that wasn’t the case, so in spirit I think I was starting to give up on them.

OK, so I was kind of thinking my bro’s family would hang with us in the MK, but they wanted to go off on their own, so that was fine. They had already been to the park before meeting us for breakfast at Chef Mickey (I was wondering if MK had EMH that morning or something). :confused3
So, me and DF and his family take the monorail to the MK…this was the first time they were on it during the day. Again DFMIL says something like “Oh, it’s ok, we can just walk”…I giggled and said to her “No, we’re taking the monorail” Not in a bossy or snotty voice though, more of a “there’s nothing to be afraid of voice” like she was the child and I was the adult. I was kind of laughing at her (but again, not in a mean way, this is a big Irish thing, it’s like they all rank on each other and make fun of each other for a laugh. It kind of bothers me after a point, but a little is ok, so I was kind of making fun of DFMIL. I mean, lord knows, she does it to me) ;)
So, we arrive at the MK and they were really impressed with Main Street. I remember hearing “ooh, look at this, this is lovely!”
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/Photopass%20wedding%20trip/Image41-1.jpg

The two trouble makers, my nemesises(sp?) FMIL and aunt...
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/Photopass%20wedding%20trip/Image49-1.jpg

My plan was to do as many of the “must-do’s” before we had to leave to meet everyone in AK for the Safari Celebration Meet and Greet dinner. (ooh! Just thinking about it now, I can remember how exciting it was as that means the wedding was really happening and soon!!) LOL
We had to leave the MK by like 3:30 I think it was, so we had a few hours to spend there which was good.
So, basically I’ll just tell you we did PoC first. I didn’t get too many questions thank goodness, I think because they all were familiar with the Pirates movies. (Of course they didn’t know the movies were based on the ride, I’m sure they thought it was the other way around!).
Everyone really enjoyed it-YAY!!
Next, I wanted to hit Fantasyland. But as we passed by HM, there was like a 10 min wait, so we got on the line. (Now again, as DF and I start to get on the line, there’s loads of hemming and hawing from the ladies but I actually was able to convince them that it was not scary at all and I had gone on as a child and wasn’t even scared.) So, I get everyone on – yay for me! :yay: LOL They were still nervous on the ride but I just kept telling them to relax! LOL
Of course everyone had a great time! There was loads of laughing!
Ok, onwards to Fantasyland!
I’m pretty sure we did IASW first. Now, I knew we’d be going on a lot of these rides again on Saturday with my mom and I did mention that to the group, but no one said anything, so that was cool. Everyone really loved it and didn’t get too annoyed by the song. (Now, I personally am never annoyed by it, but I can totally understand when peeps are) And I think we even got stuck on it for a little bit in the last room too. And they all made fun of the little Irish section with the leprechaun and the pot ‘o gold! They were all like laughing “…oh and of course, they have to have a leprechaun!!...” It was funny.
From there I took them over to Mickey’s Philharmagic. I knew they were going to love it. And they did, I know this one got a “Brilliant!” LOL.
“What next? What next?” I was thinking to myself…I would have liked to take them on Peter Pan, but the line was too long and we couldn’t wait for the FP time. I think we just did Snow White. DF likes the Pooh ride (don’t laugh) but when he asked if we would take them on that, I looked at him and laughed and was like “We’re not going to take them on the Pooh ride!” LOL…he was too cute, it was funny. I like the Pooh ride, but I didn’t think they would get the whole Poohness of it, so we did Snow White. I wanted them to go on since it was one of the original old rides etc. I think they liked it, I don’t think they were all that impressed. Sigh.
I wanted to take them on some Tomorrowland stuff, but if we didn’t have time I figured we’d have time on Saturday. And as luck would have it, we didn’t have time to do anything else as I knew it would take time to get from Fantasyland to the exit….
We start making our way out of the park and get totally waylaid by the 3 o’clock parade! Tee hee. It was tough to get everyone through the crowds but it was kind of cool at the same time because we were able to see some of the parade which I was glad about. They were all smiles looking up at the floats while we walked by which made me feel good. It was a pretty good day all in all so far and I think everyone was in a good mood and thoroughly enjoyed themselves that day. (Gee, I hope so anyway!)


Next up: Safari Celebration Meet and Greet Dinner (aka. “The rehearsal dinner”)

[KatGarcia]

Wow it must have been interesting to wrangle that many people around! More power to ya!

[lurkyloo]

I second that! :) I'm exhausted just reading about it! :faint:

Any bride who does that much tour guide-ing for her family before and/or after her wedding should get some kind of medal... or at least a free Mickey Bar. :mickeybar

[Stephie77]

Ok, I just want to start off by saying I hope it doesn’t sound like all I’m doing is complaining about DF’s mom and aunt. I’m really just telling you all how it happened. Plus, I know you all will understand. And all in all, DF/H and I were in WDW for like 2 weeks and the stresses and such didn’t ruin our trip or anything, they just kind of put a damper on it on some days. But believe it or not, there is actually more stress after the wedding! :lmao: But, the next few installments are pretty much stress free! YAY!! :yay: Which is good because we’re heading into…WEDDING TIME!! :bride: LOL.

The bus ride to The Poly was no problem. I actually was really looking forward to having some of my family around. And although I’m closer to my other brother’s family then the one whom we were about to meet up with, he was still my brother and my family and I was excited. :banana:

Ok, so, we get to The Poly and I really thought I’d hear some comments from the group about how lovely the resort was etc….but nothing. Ok, I know they travel the world and all, but still… :confused3

Anyway, I was always under the assumption that they will not check you in at the podium until your whole party is there…well, I can tell you now from experience this is totally not true! More than once (like twice at least) during this trip, my SIL was able to check us all in before we were even there! This happened at Kona actually and I was a little miffed because…

I get a text that they (bro etc.) are there and waiting at the bar over at O’hana (actually they didn’t even realize they were at O’hana, they just said they were waiting at the bar)…so when I finally found them and said hello I was so happy to see them! They tell me they have already checked us in…I say “Really? They usually don’t let you do that if your whole party is not here yet” I get “Well, I don’t know, but we checked in”. I’m like ok, whatever no biggie except for...

DMIL and the aunts decide they have to go change clothes and whatnot in the ladies room before they meet my brother and his family…so, we get buzzed on our pager thingy and there are still like 4 of us missing (the ladies and I think even the uncle)…(now you see why I was miffed that my SIL checked us in before we were even at the resort! But she didn’t really know, so it was no biggie)

So, everyone walks over to Kona while I try to get people to wait for the rest of our group. Only DF and one other person (maybe DFIL?) end up waiting…so what happens is the host/hostess doesn’t wait either and the group is shown over to the desserts etc. and then seated. So that means that the rest of the party misses out on the whole “dessert talk”. I really wanted everyone to get the whole Kona experience, but when I told them the hostess was going to show them the desserts, I get from the aunt “oh, we’re not interested in the desserts anyway” (!) :bitelip: I’m thinking “excuse me for trying to be a good hostess!” :mad: (And besides the desserts came with their meals!) sigh…whatever…

No biggie, I let it go and try to enjoy myself. We all sit down to dinner. Everybody gets along great and is having a really good time. :banana: I just reviewed everyone’s photos and it looks like nobody took any!!! Weird, but true. (sorry faithful readers!)
I can’t for the life of me remember what we had, but I know it was yummy! I really love Kona Café! It’s one of my faves! ::yes::
After dinner, we all take the monorail back to the MK and then we all take our respective buses back to our respective resorts (BW, CBR and POR). We kind of had to rush the end of dinner to make sure we could get a bus from MK so that kind of sucked, but it worked out ok.

The next morning we were all having breakfast at Chef Mickey at 10:05. We had to make it a later meal because Carolyn Allen’s was coming to steam my dress along with MOH and MOB dresses at 8am.
So, we made plans to meet up at Chef Mickey’s at about 9:50ish the next morning.

So, Carolyn Allen’s shows up and steams the dresses. It doesn’t take that long at all, and now my dress is out of the closet and hanging up in the room. I LOVE my dress! (sorry no pics yet! Well, actually, here’s a pic of my dress hanging up in our room at the inn where we had our at-home reception, so just picture this hanging up in a remodeled room at BW) ;)
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/dress-hanging-in-window-1-1.jpg
We head out to meet everyone at Chef Mickey’s. We take the bus to MK and then walked to CR because we were running late. Oh! So, another funny thing with DF’s family….the night before when I tell everyone how to get to Chef Mickey’s (even though specific directions are in everyone’s personal itineraries), I explain how easy it is-just take a bus to the Magic Kingdom from your resort and when you get off you can either take the monorail or walk to The Contemporary. Now, what I forgot to tell you all is the night before when we arrived via bus at The Poly, and the monorail was going above our heads as we walked into the resort, DF’s aunt and mom looked up and were like…scared! They were like “We’re going on that?” LOL..it was hilarious! :lmao: I’ve never known anyone to be afraid of the monorail before!! Everyone I have ever known has either loved it or couldn’t wait to ride it! The expressions on their faces were sooo funny! I mean, really….afraid? Of the monorail? :confused3

So, consequently, they were nervous about getting on it after dinner at Kona that night! It was pretty funny actually, the whole group is hurrying to get on and they just had to get on without stopping to think about it! (Funny, I had forgotten about this until I was writing it!)
Ok, so when we meet everyone in the little sitting area outside Chef Mickey’s (and I find out again that SIL had already checked us in even though our entire party wasn’t there yet). I had made a mental bet with myself (do you guys ever do that?) that DF’s family would walk to CR from MK rather than take the monorail (and not just because the ladies were afraid of it the night before either) So, when we get there, I work it into the conversation about asking them if they walked or took the monorail and of course they walked! LOL…
Anyway…we had to wait a fairly long time for a table. I was getting kind of embarrassed and annoyed but I kept forgetting, we had 11 people, so it would naturally take longer to set up etc…here's a pic of DF and his family waiting to be seated...
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/Delaneyclanatchefmickeybreakfast.jpg
We finally get seated!
So, this is the first character meal ever for everyone except for me and DF. I’m a huge character meal fan. Actually, I’m a huge character fan in general (you know, I’m one of those adults who have an autograph book for instance and has no problem waiting on long lines to get a picture taken with anyone from Jiminy Cricket to Ariel to Marie…)
Ok, so anyway, I’m thinking everyone is going to have a good time. And they did. Plus, you know, the food at Chef Mickey’s is good. I just had a really good feeling about this meal.
The thing is though, going to a character meal with more than like 4 people I realized is tough. There is absolutely no way that everyone is going to get their picture taken with each character. The way we were seated, the people on the bench side of the table could never get out before the character had to move on to the next table. Even though we were there for more than an hour, the meal felt very rushed. It was weird. But everyone liked it I know, you could just tell. It was just such a different experience for me than I was used to. But, that being said, I knew that this meal was more for my guests than for me :cutie: so as long as they enjoyed it, that was the most important thing.
Here are some pics of the breakfast (not many I know, but otherwise, it’s overkill)

Me and Eoghan
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/meandEoghanwithPlutoatChefMickey.jpg

Eoghan and my (step)niece
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/AngeliqueEoghanandMickeyatChefMicke.jpg

And here's our special dessert we got:
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/myspecialdessertatChefMickeys.jpg


One interesting thing though…I sat across from DF’s other aunt. She is very sweet. I really like her (she is the wife of the cool uncle). Anyway, she did at one point ask me about Sea World. She simply asked about it, she didn’t say that they simply MUST go there like FMIL did, but I didn’t get upset because even though it confirmed that they didn’t even look at the Birnbaum books I bought them (in fact it was during this meal that I just happened to have glanced towards FMIL who was sitting at the other end of the table and I saw her with some book about Orlando and it was definitely NOT the Birnbaums book I had bought her (them)). I was kind of fuming on the inside, but didn’t say anything at that point (DF and I talked about it later in the trip though and it made me happy when DF said to me, “Yeah, I know, I saw that! What was up with that?” It obviously bothered him as well.)
Anyway, I think this aunt thought that Sea World was part of WDW? The way she asked me though, the tone of her voice was so different than when FMIL asked about NASA or the outlets, it’s hard to explain though. So, I briefly answered her that it was somewhat close by but is not part of WDW. I couldn’t answer that well, because I have only been to Sea World once back in the seventies. I still couldn’t get them though…they had only seen 1 of 4 parks and they were asking about other things to go see? :confused3 I probably would have understood if they had been to all 4 parks and then asked about Sea World, but that wasn’t the case, so in spirit I think I was starting to give up on them.

OK, so I was kind of thinking my bro’s family would hang with us in the MK, but they wanted to go off on their own, so that was fine. They had already been to the park before meeting us for breakfast at Chef Mickey (I was wondering if MK had EMH that morning or something). :confused3
So, me and DF and his family take the monorail to the MK…this was the first time they were on it during the day. Again DFMIL says something like “Oh, it’s ok, we can just walk”…I giggled and said to her “No, we’re taking the monorail” Not in a bossy or snotty voice though, more of a “there’s nothing to be afraid of voice” like she was the child and I was the adult. I was kind of laughing at her (but again, not in a mean way, this is a big Irish thing, it’s like they all rank on each other and make fun of each other for a laugh. It kind of bothers me after a point, but a little is ok, so I was kind of making fun of DFMIL. I mean, lord knows, she does it to me) ;)
So, we arrive at the MK and they were really impressed with Main Street. I remember hearing “ooh, look at this, this is lovely!”
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/Photopass%20wedding%20trip/Image41-1.jpg

The two trouble makers, my nemesises(sp?) FMIL and aunt...
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/Photopass%20wedding%20trip/Image49-1.jpg

My plan was to do as many of the “must-do’s” before we had to leave to meet everyone in AK for the Safari Celebration Meet and Greet dinner. (ooh! Just thinking about it now, I can remember how exciting it was as that means the wedding was really happening and soon!!) LOL
We had to leave the MK by like 3:30 I think it was, so we had a few hours to spend there which was good.
So, basically I’ll just tell you we did PoC first. I didn’t get too many questions thank goodness, I think because they all were familiar with the Pirates movies. (Of course they didn’t know the movies were based on the ride, I’m sure they thought it was the other way around!).
Everyone really enjoyed it-YAY!!
Next, I wanted to hit Fantasyland. But as we passed by HM, there was like a 10 min wait, so we got on the line. (Now again, as DF and I start to get on the line, there’s loads of hemming and hawing from the ladies but I actually was able to convince them that it was not scary at all and I had gone on as a child and wasn’t even scared.) So, I get everyone on – yay for me! :yay: LOL They were still nervous on the ride but I just kept telling them to relax! LOL
Of course everyone had a great time! There was loads of laughing!
Ok, onwards to Fantasyland!
I’m pretty sure we did IASW first. Now, I knew we’d be going on a lot of these rides again on Saturday with my mom and I did mention that to the group, but no one said anything, so that was cool. Everyone really loved it and didn’t get too annoyed by the song. (Now, I personally am never annoyed by it, but I can totally understand when peeps are) And I think we even got stuck on it for a little bit in the last room too. And they all made fun of the little Irish section with the leprechaun and the pot ‘o gold! They were all like laughing “…oh and of course, they have to have a leprechaun!!...” It was funny.
From there I took them over to Mickey’s Philharmagic. I knew they were going to love it. And they did, I know this one got a “Brilliant!” LOL.
“What next? What next?” I was thinking to myself…I would have liked to take them on Peter Pan, but the line was too long and we couldn’t wait for the FP time. I think we just did Snow White. DF likes the Pooh ride (don’t laugh) but when he asked if we would take them on that, I looked at him and laughed and was like “We’re not going to take them on the Pooh ride!” LOL…he was too cute, it was funny. I like the Pooh ride, but I didn’t think they would get the whole Poohness of it, so we did Snow White. I wanted them to go on since it was one of the original old rides etc. I think they liked it, I don’t think they were all that impressed. Sigh.
I wanted to take them on some Tomorrowland stuff, but if we didn’t have time I figured we’d have time on Saturday. And as luck would have it, we didn’t have time to do anything else as I knew it would take time to get from Fantasyland to the exit….
We start making our way out of the park and get totally waylaid by the 3 o’clock parade! Tee hee. It was tough to get everyone through the crowds but it was kind of cool at the same time because we were able to see some of the parade which I was glad about. They were all smiles looking up at the floats while we walked by which made me feel good. It was a pretty good day all in all so far and I think everyone was in a good mood and thoroughly enjoyed themselves that day. (Gee, I hope so anyway!)


Next up: Safari Celebration Meet and Greet Dinner (aka. “The rehearsal dinner”)
hi! i read through your PJ (and enjoyed it!) you two are so cute! i am looking to forward to hear about your wedding! i am also from NY and have a question. is your step-niece's name angelique? she looks so much like my friend anthony's fiance. just curious b/c it is a small world! :lmao:

[Lorelei528]

hi! i read through your PJ (and enjoyed it!) you two are so cute! i am looking to forward to hear about your wedding! i am also from NY and have a question. is your step-niece's name angelique? she looks so much like my friend anthony's fiance. just curious b/c it is a small world! :lmao:

Hi!! :hyper:

Yep, my step-niece's name IS Angelique and Anthony is my nephew-to-be!! (Well, he already calls me Aunt Lori!) :)

You and I are practically related! LOL

Anthony would have been at the wedding, but he had another one in NY at the time and he was in the bridal party, so Angelique came stag to our shindig.

This is TOOOO weird!! Yet, how awesome!! The world is almost scarily too small!!! tee hee.

[Stephie77]

Hi!! :hyper:

Yep, my step-niece's name IS Angelique and Anthony is my nephew-to-be!! (Well, he already calls me Aunt Lori!) :)

You and I are practically related! LOL

Anthony would have been at the wedding, but he had another one in NY at the time and he was in the bridal party, so Angelique came stag to our shindig.

This is TOOOO weird!! Yet, how awesome!! The world is almost scarily too small!!! tee hee.
OMG!! that is too funny. i have known anthony for years. he is really good friends with my BFF(who would have been one of my BMs if i was having a wedding party) husband. i just saw them at my BFFs daughters christening 2 weeks ago. Angelique is so sweet. we were actually talking about our weddings(i love their date 10-10-10-:lmao:) but she never mentioned about being at disney wedding. it really is a small world. are you originally from rockland?

[Lorelei528]

Yep! Originally from Rockland...West Nyack. I went to Clarkstown South HS. Now I live in the Bronx, Woodlawn to be exact. I just read through your PJ!! Now, I have to go subscribe!!

Yep, Angelique even did a reading at our ceremony! I don't know if you're on Facebook, but she has pics from the whole trip on her profile. I am still uploading mine! :rotfl:

Where in Rockland are you originally from? Wanna hear something else funny? I work in a Pharmaceutical Company and do a lot of admin for the legal dept. and am thinking about getting a paralegal cert. at some point!!

This is so cool!! :goodvibes

[Stephie77]

Yep! Originally from Rockland...West Nyack. I went to Clarkstown South HS. Now I live in the Bronx, Woodlawn to be exact. I just read through your PJ!! Now, I have to go subscribe!!

Yep, Angelique even did a reading at our ceremony! I don't know if you're on Facebook, but she has pics from the whole trip on her profile. I am still uploading mine! :rotfl:

Where in Rockland are you originally from? Wanna hear something else funny? I work in a Pharmaceutical Company and do a lot of admin for the legal dept. and am thinking about getting a paralegal cert. at some point!!

This is so cool!! :goodvibes
i am your rival as i went to clarkstown north (GO RAMS) :laughing: i grew up in new city! i now live in brooklyn though. what year did you graduate south? i graduated north in 1995. i am on facebook and friends with her. i will have to check out the pics when i get home, since i am blocked at work. this is so surreal!! totally get your degree. i will tell you in this economy there are always paralegal jobs. i got my paralegal degree at mercy college in white plains. they give you life time placement. still can't beleive i found another rocklandnite on these boards!

[Lorelei528]

Wow it must have been interesting to wrangle that many people around! More power to ya!

"Interesting" is the nice way of putting it!:rotfl:

I second that! :) I'm exhausted just reading about it! :faint:

Any bride who does that much tour guide-ing for her family before and/or after her wedding should get some kind of medal... or at least a free Mickey Bar. :mickeybar

;) Being on the DDP, it's like we get Mickey Bars for free!! tee hee. Oh believe me, I would have totally been more into rewarding myself after DH's family left if not for the whole knee/leg injury incident.... :( (That's what the shorty trip in Sept is for!) ;)

i am your rival as i went to clarkstown north (GO RAMS) :laughing: i grew up in new city! i now live in brooklyn though. what year did you graduate south? i graduated north in 1995. i am on facebook and friends with her. i will have to check out the pics when i get home, since i am blocked at work. this is so surreal!! totally get your degree. i will tell you in this economy there are always paralegal jobs. i got my paralegal degree at mercy college in white plains. they give you life time placement. still can't beleive i found another rocklandnite on these boards!

Steph, as you probably have guessed by now, I'm a bit older than you. I graduated in '85. Thanks for the support about the paralegal thing. I probably wouldn't start that unless/until I was "in-between" jobs....I have no time right now. But lifetime placement is good! So I'll look into Mercy for sure when the time comes! :thumbsup2

[Lorelei528]

We take the monorail to the TTC and then the bus to the AK.

So the plans were to meet up just through the gate on the other side of the turnstiles. I was so excited to see my family! :banana: It’s pretty funny, because if you knew me you’d know that’s not really me. I mean, I was the kid who went away to college and was not really homesick at all etc…Don’t get me wrong, I love my family and all, I just don’t have that type of relationship with them (although my mom would love it if I did). I think I was all excited for a number of reasons. Firstly, they were all coming for the wedding, so I was just all so excited and happy about that. :banana: Secondly, I was so stressed out, I needed to be around more people who knew me better you know? :grouphug: Thirdly, we’ve never all been away together and I thought that it was really cool that we were experiencing this together at WDW… :cool1:

Waiting for us at the gate when we got there was my mom, my other brother and sister in law and my sister in laws mom (who is more like an aunt to me). I was a bit disappointed that my nephew and his fiancé and my niece weren’t there but I was told they were on there way, that they were starving as they had no breakfast before they left for the airport and of course, there was nothing on the plane…(I find out later they went to the ESPN club and had a few beers as well…) My other brother and sister in law and step niece were already there somewhere in the AK…my other nephew and his gf couldn’t get an early enough flight so would have to miss the dinner… :sad:
It was so funny…my mom, my brother, my sister in law and I were acting like we hadn’t seen each other in like months or something! :lmao: It was pretty funny/weird, yet all good.

So, here’s a little background on this dinner. Basically, as an intimate or “Escape” wedding, we do not get a rehearsal included. But I knew we had to do something so everyone could meet (most for the first time) before the wedding. I didn’t want it to be just in a nice restaurant because I figured peeps wouldn’t be able to talk very easily etc. I was trying to think of ideas that would be fun and different etc. I knew we qualified as a Grand Gathering, so I looked into those experiences and found the Safari Celebration Dinner. It fit all our criteria, I had seen great reviews online and the fact that we were doing our dinner reception at Jiko in the Animal Kingdom Lodge I thought would tie in nicely. There might have been other options available, but from what I could find, this fit us best. Basically your group meets up at Flights of Wonder with all the other groups (I think the max for this experience is a total of 150 peeps-which means all the individual Grand Gathering groups together). You meet right before the park is closing (we needed to meet up at 4:30). At Flights of Wonder your group is given a name (I can’t even remember ours, I wanna say it was The Cheetahs or something like that, but I could be totally wrong LOL). Anyway, after a brief introduction to the experience and meeting your host, Mama Dasha, your group is escorted over to Kilimanjaro Safaris where you board the ride vehicles for your own private safari! :yay: Now, I think the trucks hold 32 people and we only had 20, so I thought we’d have to share, but we didn’t, so our families got our own Safari vehicle which was sooo cool. :banana: They take you through the safari slower than the regular ride does, but not quite as slow as say the “Sunrise Safari” (which we were lucky enough to have done on our last trip back in Oct of ’08.)
We had our own guide who to be honest was kind of annoying. He kept making reference to how little CM’s like him earned. I was like thinking “Yo, I don’t want to/need to hear that” :headache: and I certainly didn’t like my wedding guests having to sit through his complaints. But DF and I were sitting in the front row, so I’m hoping no one else really heard him or were just so enthralled by the animals we were seeing that they didn’t realize what he was saying. He did also talk about the animals we were seeing as well however.
Here is a pic of peeps taken on the safari vehicle…
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/onthesafaritruckbeforedinner.jpg

I know they don't look very excited, but believe me...everyone was having a great time!

So, after we go through the ride, we are escorted over to Tusker House for our dinner. We are shown to our table and we all find seats. The Safari Celebration dinner is buffet and the food is really delicious! It’s similar to BOMA but I feel like it even had a better selection. Everyone LOVED the food. During the dinner Mama Dasha had a microphone and had all the tables announce what they were there celebrating. We were the only group there for a wedding so we felt especially….special. There were family reunions and birthdays and retirements and military families. I have to say, it was nice to be with so many people celebrating such happy occasions. At one point DF and I were asked to get up so we could be introduced, it was a bit embarrassing (remember, there were like 150 people there) but it was all great fun. Then we were asked to dance and then a bunch of kids got up with us and some birthday people and we all danced, it was so much fun! I wish someone in our families would have taken some pics though!

Here are some pics taken during the dinner. I loved Mama Dasha, she was so cool.

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/ciaranandmamadasha.jpg
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/me-and-mama-dasha-at-dinner.jpg
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/safari-dinner.jpg

So, the desserts they bring to your table and they were delicious. (Sorry, no food porn from this meal!) During dessert is the time you can go meet with characters (I know Timon was there and somebody else-myabe Pooh?) I was going to go with DF to get our picture taken with them, but the line was really long. They also have real animals outside at this time that you can go see and ask questions about. The night of our dinner there was a tiny owl. (I LOVE owls!) It was sooo cute! And no, I just realized I should have taken a pic! (I get so angry at myself sometimes!) and I think there was also a tarantula which was cool.

After dinner everyone gets taken back by bus to whatever resort they’re staying at. So, everyone who was at BW took the bus back with us. It was really a great evening, everyone really enjoyed themselves. On the way back to BW, we asked my mom and my sister in law’s mom if they wanted to watch IllumiNations from our balcony with us. (Because we were a Grand Gathering, our room were all next to each other which was great).

So, we had about an hour to relax and then we got together to watch IllumiNations. After that, we had to throw them out of our room as we had to wake up at 3:45am the next morning (wedding day!) because Patricia LeJeune who was doing my hair and makeup for our Magic Kingdom and EPCOT photo shoots would be arriving at like 4am!

I think I actually slept pretty well and was very relaxed even though we only got like 6 hours of sleep maximum.

Next up: WEDDING DAY!!!! (Which really means there will be LOADS of pics!)

[lurkyloo]

Wow - your rehearsal dinner sounds soooo fun! I love that you really used Grand Gatherings to the fullest for your wedding stay - not everybody can take advantage of it, and it seems like a great perk of traveling with a large group.

Now I want to do one just so I can meet an owl and a tarantula! :rotfl:

[Boardwalk_bride]

I love your rehearsal dinner! It sounds like you had such a good time!! I was thinking about doing something like that, but I don't know if it is in our budget to pay for everyone. I'm looking forward to more of your TR!!

[Lorelei528]

Wow - your rehearsal dinner sounds soooo fun! I love that you really used Grand Gatherings to the fullest for your wedding stay - not everybody can take advantage of it, and it seems like a great perk of traveling with a large group.

Now I want to do one just so I can meet an owl and a tarantula! :rotfl:

Not only was it fun, but it was yummy too! :banana: Well, I tried to utilize the whole GG thing, but to be honest with you, I found that there really wasn't much to utilize. (I mean, besides setting up a GG experience). In any case the Safari Celebration was awesome! :goodvibes

The owl was the CUTEST!!!! I really wish I had taken a photo!! D'oh!

I love your rehearsal dinner! It sounds like you had such a good time!! I was thinking about doing something like that, but I don't know if it is in our budget to pay for everyone. I'm looking forward to more of your TR!!

It probably was more than we initially wanted to spend, but I really wanted the first time the families got together to be something special and different. It was $64.99 pp. But I figured since it was more than just a dinner it kind of paid for itself (or maybe I was just trying to rationalize!):rotfl: One of the things was, it had to be prepaid, so I would call every month and pay for 3 or 4 people. That helped a lot, plus also, me, DF and my mom used dining plan points (2), so we only ended up paying for 15 people since my other nephew and his gf (now fiance) couldn't make it.

Look no more, because here's some more now! :banana:

[Lorelei528]

I guess I will have to do the Wedding Day in a number of installments because there will be lots to write about plus LOADS of pics! We have the professional ones plus ones our families took and I don’t want to make any one post too long or overwhelming. ;)

So, I had set our alarm for 3:45am I think since Patricia would be showing up at 4am for my hair and makeup. I originally was going to have us wake-up at 3:30, but after checking what other Disney brides did for early photo shoots, it really sounded like mostly, they just rolled out of bed and brushed their teeth before Patricia showed up. I figured if DF could jump in the shower and be out by the time Patricia arrived we’d be ok because she’d be using the bathroom area and we’d be blocking the door to the shower/toilet area.

So as my cell phone alarm rang, the room resounded with us going “ugh” LOL! But we were good and got up quickly, it’s a good thing, because Patricia called us shortly thereafter that she was downstairs! So, DF jumped in the shower (thank goodness he takes short showers!). A few minutes later, Patricia knocks on our door. I had just enough time to throw on my undergarments and my getting ready outfit (note to future brides, it’s a good thing to wear something that either zips or buttons down the front! ;) I think I must have also slept in my soft rollers now that I think about it, because there would have been no time to put my hair in rollers, have it air dry and get it somewhat curly before Patricia got there, but it’s funny because I don’t remember sleeping with them in! I think this was the beginning of “wedding whirlwind” a phenomenon many brides (and grooms too I assume) experience where time goes by so quickly in the hours leading up to the wedding, that we are almost not conscious of things that happen around us. :)

So, Patricia arrives (DF is already out of the shower). He’s in shorts and a tshirt I think for now as I have instructed him he shouldn’t put on the tux until a little bit later or he’ll get all wrinkly. (LOL, not him actually, the tux!). He also wants to go back to sleep, so I tell him he can, but he can’t lay down (tee hee) This is because as you can see from my siggy pic, SF has longish, curly hair and if it’s damp/wet and he lays on it, it’s obviously not going to look nice afterwards. He was actually ok with it and totally agreed with me ::yes:: So, he kind of snoozed sitting up while Patricia worked on my hair.

Now, I’m totally not into the whole “getting ready pics” and besides I wasn’t going to ask Randy to also show up that early! So, I don’t have any of those types of pics. (sorry!).
I had a trial run with Patricia back in Sept. 08 when DF and I were down in WDW (which was his first trip). I didn’t like the way my hair had come out, but I had only brought one picture with me at the time or maybe I didn’t explain well how I wanted it. Also, the color I had in mind for lipstick was not your normal color (I wanted something Purpley, but not bright or pastel). I tend to wear dark lipstick, but on my wedding day I didn’t want to go too dark being that the wedding was outside on May Day basically. Plus it didn’t go with the look of the dress. But looking for such a different color, she didn’t have anything with her at the time that was close to what I wanted.
So, I was a little bit nervous about getting my hair done…but this time I had brought quite a few more pictures for Patricia’s reference and we compared the new pics to pics of how my hair looked at the trial run. I felt confident that I would like the way it would look.
It took awhile to get my hair done (I think it took until almost 5am!) and Patricia kept poking at it and asking me if I liked it and was very detail-oriented about getting it just right. And I really did like it a lot better and thought it looked great.
Then it was on to the makeup! This of course, doesn’t take as long as the hair, but Patricia again, really made sure she was doing exactly what I wanted. For some reason I forgot to ask for eyeliner under my eyes, but I didn’t notice and I think my eyes look great in the pics for our MK and EPCOT photo pics, so it was all good! I had brought with me a lip stain, a lip stick and a gloss that were all in the color family that I wanted. We decided to not use the gloss because it was too gooey and the stain and the lipstick did look a bit darker than I wanted, but again, when I look at the pics, I’m happy with the color. It may look dark for a bride, but it looks like me, you know? If I was wearing pink or something pale on my wedding day, I just wouldn’t feel like me. OH! That also explains my nail polish color which you’ll notice in some pics as well. I wanted to do a dark purple, but again for the same reasons, decided not to and right before we left NY for WDW (like a week or so) I found the perfect polish! I’m the kind of girl who really would have liked to wear Doc Martens under her dress, but the Purple ones I have would be too noticeable and I could only find White on-line which would clash with my dress…tee hee. (You’ll see my alternate footwear in future pics) ;)

Anyway, as Patricia was finishing up my makeup, I woke DF up and we both got dressed very quickly. (Because if I’m remembering correctly, our Disney photographer was already downstairs and was about to call us!) I think we were running a bit late to be honest with you. They were supposed to pick us up at 5:45 and I think they arrived 5 mins. early, but I don’t even think we made it downstairs until at least 5:55! (It might even have been later).
So, I threw my dress on (DF was already dressed), Patricia helped me zip up, we put on my headpiece and veil (both bought from www.veilubridal.com. Elaine is awesome!) and my jewelry. I put on my shoes and I think that was it, we were ready to go!
We went downstairs to the lobby and met our photographer for the morning, Regina. We apologized profusely for being late. Regina was very sweet and understanding. She explained that she wanted us to get lots of good pictures before we got kicked out of the MK. :goodvibes: (I forget now what time we would have to be finished up there). Also, I knew that we missed the sunrise and therefore would not get any pics in the dark with the castle all lit up. This was ok by me. Sure, those pictures look great and I really like them, but “it is what it is” so to speak, and it just wasn’t going to happen for us. I was so excited and happy and just felt very lucky to be getting these pictures taken in the MK at all, I really almost didn’t care if they were in the daylight, the night time or anything!
So, we drove over to the MK with Regina. We chatted along the way and she was very friendly and had lots of interesting things to say and was very easy to talk to, which was good, because when someone is taking your picture like this (especially at 6am), it’s important to be comfortable around them.
We drive up Main Street and park the van. We meet someone from the floral department who has our flowers (my bouquet and DF’s boutonniere).
As soon as I see my bouquet, I think my jaw dropped. It was not at all the way it was supposed to be! I was freaking out. I specifically went over with both my wedding coordinator and my floral coordinator there should be absolutely no pink in the wedding at all. I had e-mailed my floral coordinator an inspiration pic of how I wanted my bouquet to be. Here it is:
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/flowerpicforLauraandweb.jpg
As you see, there is no pink whatsoever. Only purples and lavenders. I literally didn’t know what to do when the woman handed it to me. I immediately said something like “This isn’t my bouquet.” She assured me it was. I started to get visibly upset. :crazy2: “No, it was supposed to be Purple only, no white or anything else, there’s white, pink and light blue in it! I specifically said, NO Pink!” :furious:

She started to explain why etc…but I was like not even hearing her. I knew it (and she) was wrong with a capital W. :mad: But unfortunately there was nothing I could do at the time. So, our MK and EPCOT pics were taken with the wrong bouquet. :sad: (I’ll explain in a future post how this gets sorted out later after the photo shoots).

So, the MK bridal portrait shoot usually included castle and Carousel shots. I didn’t like the idea of the Carousel, so, me loving Main Street so much, asked if we could take some there instead. It wasn’t a problem and I would have even liked to take more, but since we were running late, we could only take a few.

Here are some of my favorite MK photo shoot shots…(drum roll)

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/Disney%20Wedding%20Photography%20Services/PH148070509-0004.jpg
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/Disney%20Wedding%20Photography%20Services/PH148070509-0007.jpg
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/Disney%20Wedding%20Photography%20Services/PH148070509-0008.jpg
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/Disney%20Wedding%20Photography%20Services/PH148070509-0012.jpg
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/Disney%20Wedding%20Photography%20Services/PH148070509-0020.jpg
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/Disney%20Wedding%20Photography%20Services/PH148070509-0022.jpg
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/Disney%20Wedding%20Photography%20Services/PH148070509-0023.jpg
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/Disney%20Wedding%20Photography%20Services/PH148070509-0024.jpg
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/Disney%20Wedding%20Photography%20Services/PH148070509-0027.jpg
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/Disney%20Wedding%20Photography%20Services/PH148070509-0030.jpg
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/Disney%20Wedding%20Photography%20Services/PH148070509-0035.jpg

I think this one is my all-time fave from the MK shoot. I don't know why really, it just is.
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/Disney%20Wedding%20Photography%20Services/PH148070509-0036.jpg
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/Disney%20Wedding%20Photography%20Services/PH148070509-0041.jpg
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/Disney%20Wedding%20Photography%20Services/PH148070509-0046.jpg

Next up: EPCOT photo shoot and back to BW to continue to get ready for the wedding!

[MainStMandy]

WOW!! Everything is just gorgeous, even your bouquet!

[Stephie77]

Lori-your pics came out beautiful!!! isn't patricia great. i really loved her when she did my trial! so excited to see more:thumbsup2

[Lorelei528]

So, it was time to leave the MK :sad1: I actually got really sad. It would have been so cool to have the park to yourself for a few hours to take more pics. It was like a tease, you know? So, with a sigh, I took one last look around, knowing how lucky I truly was. I think we missed out on some shots for sure, but I know it was because we were late, so I can’t complain.
Regina explained that the good thing about having the EPCOT shoot was that we would have plenty of time to take lots of pics since the park didn’t open until later, there would be less workers etc and we would just have more time. (And we did, we didn’t feel rushed or anything it was great!). I’m not sure what time we got there and I know we went well over the time we were supposed to.
For our two countries we had chosen Italy and Morocco. Rosie our floral/photo coordinator told me we might be able to do another country as well and asked me if so, what country we would like. I thought Japan or China perhaps.
So, we arrive at EPCOT. We go to Morocco first. At this time, it’s already starting to get pretty hot out. And it’s only like 7 something in the morning! We start taking some photos in the courtyard
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/Disney%20Wedding%20Photography%20Services/PH148070509-0050.jpg
And then…..bump into another Disney Bride and Groom!!! :scared1: Now, I had forgotten, but this is a very big deal with Disney’s Fairytale Weddings! Because you are supposed to think that you are the only couple getting married at WDW that day! Tee hee.
Now, I personally didn’t mind at all, I was all into seeing the other couple and nodding hello and stuff and of course I was dying to know if she was a DISbride! (So, if anyone is reading this or know of anyone that had Amy as their photographer on May 1 for their wedding and photo shoots….HI!!!) LOL
Anyway, I barely had time to smile at the other happy couple, let alone see what they looked like, but the bride had dark hair and it was kind of half-up, half-down. I’m thinking she wasn’t a DISbride, because if she was, I’m sure we’d be aware of each other before that day! :)
Anyway, Regina got all flustered because us brides are not supposed to run into each other. She said she thought they’d be done already (I guess photogs know the bridal shoot schedules before hand, especially to avoid this type of occurrence.). The thing was she was concerned that the other bride and groom were also doing Italy and Morocco and some other country, maybe France, I can’t remember now and Regina was concerned that they wouldn’t be done in Italy by the time we got over there, so after Morocco we got to do some of Japan! :banana: We finished up in Japan and headed towards Italy….with no sign of the others.

Here are some of our faves from our EPCOT shoot:

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/Disney%20Wedding%20Photography%20Services/PH148070509-0055.jpg
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/Disney%20Wedding%20Photography%20Services/PH148070509-0062.jpg
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/Disney%20Wedding%20Photography%20Services/PH148070509-0065.jpg
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/Disney%20Wedding%20Photography%20Services/PH148070509-0066.jpg
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/Disney%20Wedding%20Photography%20Services/PH148070509-0071.jpg
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/Disney%20Wedding%20Photography%20Services/PH148070509-0074.jpg
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/Disney%20Wedding%20Photography%20Services/PH148070509-0080.jpg
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/Disney%20Wedding%20Photography%20Services/PH148070509-0081.jpg
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/Disney%20Wedding%20Photography%20Services/PH148070509-0083.jpg
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/Disney%20Wedding%20Photography%20Services/PH148070509-0088.jpg
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/Disney%20Wedding%20Photography%20Services/PH148070509-0090.jpg
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/Disney%20Wedding%20Photography%20Services/PH148070509-0099.jpg
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/Disney%20Wedding%20Photography%20Services/PH148070509-0102.jpg
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/Disney%20Wedding%20Photography%20Services/PH148070509-0103.jpg
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/Disney%20Wedding%20Photography%20Services/PH148070509-0104.jpg
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/Disney%20Wedding%20Photography%20Services/PH148070509-0109.jpg
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/Disney%20Wedding%20Photography%20Services/PH148070509-0111.jpg
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/Disney%20Wedding%20Photography%20Services/PH148070509-0112.jpg
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/Disney%20Wedding%20Photography%20Services/PH148070509-0113.jpg

We really love the EPCOT photos! I think we actually prefer them to the MK ones, but we just had to get our pic taken with the castle, you know?

After we finally finished up, we headed back to BW, where Patricia would be returning shortly to do my niece’s (MOH) hair and makup and my mom’s and DF’s mom and also freshen me up! ;)


Next up: More Wedding Day! YAY!!!!!

[Boardwalk_bride]

I know I have said this before (when you posted your portrait link) but your pictures turned out amazing!!! I was on the fence about Epcot (even though its my fav park) but your pictures are inspiring me to save!!!!! Did you save money by doing the 2 of them together?

[sillykaren]

I think this one is my all-time fave from the MK shoot. I don't know why really, it just is.
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/Disney%20Wedding%20Photography%20Services/PH148070509-0036.jpg
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/Disney%20Wedding%20Photography%20Services/PH148070509-0041.jpg
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/Disney%20Wedding%20Photography%20Services/PH148070509-0046.jpg

Next up: EPCOT photo shoot and back to BW to continue to get ready for the wedding!

Okay I just want to say that I had poo-pooed the MK photo shoot until JUST NOW! Your pictures are AMAAAZING!!!:thumbsup2

[Petals & Pixie Dust]

AWESOME! You're making me re-consider not doing an EPCOT photo shoot...*sigh*

[Pirate's Princess]

Your pictures are awesome. Regina did a great job. I'm starting to feel better about DPS. I can't wait to see more wedding shots

[MainStMandy]

Wow...your pictures just keep getting better!! Df and I are talking about doing MK and one other park but we can't decided. Your EPCOT pics are just gorgeous!

[Luvmyfam3]

Lori,

I just wanted to let you know that I've truly enjoyed reading your TR! What a fun time! And your pictures at MK and EPCOT were fantastic! You know, reading on these boards had me really concerned with the Disney photographers, but we had Amy and she was wonderful! It is kinda scary not knowing who you're going to get, but I'm so glad it worked out for both of us! I can't wait to read more! We're both June 2009 Disney brides! :bride::bride:

Kim

[Emimy]

Lori,

I rarely come out of lurkdom on here, but I just want to say that your photos are beautiful! I didn't want an MK photo shoot but your pictures are making me rethink that decision!

I'm following your TR with lots of interest, we're also hoping for a SBP/Jiko/Morocco wedding! :goodvibes So I was so pleased when I found your TR! Looking forward to reading more!

Emily :flower3:

[Lorelei528]

WOW!! Everything is just gorgeous, even your bouquet!

Thanks! But wait 'till you see the "real" one! :goodvibes

Lori-your pics came out beautiful!!! isn't patricia great. i really loved her when she did my trial! so excited to see more:thumbsup2

Steph-Thanks! Patricia is awesome!! Do you have pics from your trial in your PJ? I will have to go check it out again...

I know I have said this before (when you posted your portrait link) but your pictures turned out amazing!!! I was on the fence about Epcot (even though its my fav park) but your pictures are inspiring me to save!!!!! Did you save money by doing the 2 of them together?

Thanks! Well, let's put it this way...I knew I wanted to get the MK pics and when you think about how adding on EPCOT only costs another $300, to me it was like saving $ by doing both. Not that I don't like the MK pics, but really, the EPCOT ones are (and can be) so much more visually interesting, you know? I think it's worth it, especially if EPCOT is your fave park, even if you just do EPCOT...

Okay I just want to say that I had poo-pooed the MK photo shoot until JUST NOW! Your pictures are AMAAAZING!!!:thumbsup2

Aww...gee. Thanks!:cutie:

AWESOME! You're making me re-consider not doing an EPCOT photo shoot...*sigh*

Totally seriously reconsider! :thumbsup2

Your pictures are awesome. Regina did a great job. I'm starting to feel better about DPS. I can't wait to see more wedding shots

Regina was great! I highly recommend her! I would request her again without a doubt!

Wow...your pictures just keep getting better!! Df and I are talking about doing MK and one other park but we can't decided. Your EPCOT pics are just gorgeous!

Thanks! I've been trying to follow along on your new PJ....have you decided on a second park for pics yet?

Lori,

I just wanted to let you know that I've truly enjoyed reading your TR! What a fun time! And your pictures at MK and EPCOT were fantastic! You know, reading on these boards had me really concerned with the Disney photographers, but we had Amy and she was wonderful! It is kinda scary not knowing who you're going to get, but I'm so glad it worked out for both of us! I can't wait to read more! We're both June 2009 Disney brides! :bride::bride:

Kim

Hey Kim! Yeah, I had actually requested Amy, but got Regina. Then we did get Amy for our honeymoon shoot, but I wasn't so happy with the photos....but she was very nice to work with definitely!
I'm glad you're enjoying my TR so far! It's my first one EVER!!! :)

Lori,

I rarely come out of lurkdom on here, but I just want to say that your photos are beautiful! I didn't want an MK photo shoot but your pictures are making me rethink that decision!

I'm following your TR with lots of interest, we're also hoping for a SBP/Jiko/Morocco wedding! :goodvibes So I was so pleased when I found your TR! Looking forward to reading more!

Emily :flower3:

Thanks Emily! Ooh!! If you have any questions about anything with your SBP/Jiko/Morocco wedding, please PM me or post to me here! There's not many who do that exact combo, but Jiko was awesome! Everyone LOVED it! ;)


Ok, everyone, my next installment is written, I just need to upload some pics to Photobucket, so expect a new installment this weekend for sure!

Thanks everyone for reading and following along! :goodvibes

[Boardwalk_bride]

Wooohoooo!!! I can't wait to see more!

[LLLBelle]

Your pictures are lovely! I can't wait to see more.

[Lorelei528]

So, we arrive back at BW. We immediately get out of our wedding gear (and hang everything up nicely!) ;) I did leave my headpiece and veil on though.
I put my “getting ready” outfit back on and DF puts his shorts and t on. We realized we were hungry since we hadn’t eaten anything yet, so originally we were both going to go down to the Bakery to get the good ‘ol breakfast sandwiches and I thought I’d go down with my veil and headpiece on, but then I decided not to. So, DF went down and got us coffee and sandwiches. I go next door and knock on my mom’s door. She’s all excited and asked me about the photo shoots. She asks where DF is and I tell her he’s getting us breakfast. He comes up a few minutes later. I wasn’t really hungry yet, so he had his and then laid down (since he, unlike me, has plenty of time to take a nap! He doesn’t have to get up until his brother gets there at like noon or 12:15!) I would have taken a nap, but I think I only had ½ hour or so, so didn’t bother.
I go back into my mom’s room with my breakfast sandwich and coffee. So, I forget what time it was exactly, but shortly thereafter my niece (MOH) arrives with her mom (my SIL). Then Patricia arrives at 10am. :yay: My niece has long hair and wanted it pinned up loosely on the sides and curly with loose, open curls. She’s like a size 0 and is 19 years old. She had never had her makeup done before and I think she was feeling a bit nervous or apprehensive about it, but I told her not to worry, Patricia was great and she is going to LOVE her! (This was at home before we left).
So, when Patricia arrived, she was her usual, friendly, cheerful, amazing self and everyone loved her right away! (I “heart” Patricia LeJeune!).:lovestruc
My niece came out awesome!! I know she (and her mom too) was really impressed! I think while my niece was getting done, my SIL’s mom stopped in. During this time my SIL’s mom said something to the effect of “well, if I knew everyone would come out looking so great, I would have had my makeup done!” I was glad that everyone was happy with Patricia. :)

Here's a couple of pics of my niece (and Patricia's in them too) getting "done":

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/moreAlainagettingmadeup.jpg
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/Alainagettingmadeup.jpg

Also during this time, I started feeling peckish, so ate my breakfast sandwich.
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/gettingreadypicwsammich.jpg
Also, after my niece and SIL got there, my SIL informed me that she was going to order some pizza because I couldn’t wait until dinner to eat. But I wasn’t really that hungry to be honest. ;)

Here's one more pic of DN almost done:
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/Alainaalmostdone.jpg
Anyway, my mom’s turn was next by this time it was probably about 11ish. I was a little worried about how my mom would come out to be honest. She’s very pale and you know, being 84, her face is you know, how can I put this nicely about my mommy…umm..I don’t know, you tell me. But I know you know what I mean, right? I didn’t want her to be all caked up or anything you know? I mean, I knew that wasn’t Patricia’s style, but I wasn’t sure how my mom would look. I mean, she does wear makeup sometimes, but not that much…ok, anyway, I have to tell you….my mom came out AMAZING!!!!
She didn’t look her age AT ALL!! I couldn’t believe it! And everyone loved what Patricia did with her hair. We didn’t want her to have that real, set, old lady look, you know? So, Patricia just used a curling iron. The look was modern and chic. When she was done, all I could think was…”You go Mommy!!!”
(And she looked even better live and in person!)
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/beautiful-mommyjpg.jpg

As Patricia was finishing my mom, DF’s mom arrived by town car (previously arranged through my wedding coordinator) DF’s brother went next door to DF so they could both hang and get ready together at their leisure.
DF’s mom has very short hair, and again, I wasn’t sure what Patricia was going to do with it to be honest with you, but she knew right when she saw DF’s mom. I think she just used the curling iron a little and teased it to give it some volume and used some product etc. DF’s mom also doesn’t wear like any makeup at all. So, she also wanted a natural look. But let me tell you, when Patricia was finished she looked glam! (I mean that in a good way! Tee hee). DF’s mom brought this feather thing to put into her hair and when she first showed it to us, I was a little frightened, but it actually really looked great in her hair. (I think these are really big in Ireland and the UK at weddings etc.).
Here's a pic of FMIL all done up:
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/Anne-dolled-up.jpg
So, while DF’s mom was getting “done”, the pizza arrived. Everybody had some and DF and his bro came over to get some as well. I think I did have a slice after all, but I know I didn’t finish it. After DF’s mom was done, she went next door to help the boys (tee hee) get ready. I hung out with my mom. I was starting to get antsy a bit though. I needed to put my dress back on and be ready, but I couldn’t get ready until the guys were out of the room. This sounds like this was crazy time, but it wasn’t really, somehow it all worked out! My SIL and niece had gone back to their room in BWV to get ready and then came back to help me get ready. There really wasn’t too much I needed, just some help putting on the dress mostly. I think everyone eventually went downstairs except for me and my niece (MOH). I think it was about 1ish at this point though I can’t remember exactly, maybe a little after. My wedding coordinator arrived to pin on the men’s boutonnieres and give the mothers their corsages. I know at 1:30 our wedding photographer, Randy Chapman and our videographer, Stan Severance would be arriving to photo/video everyone downstairs etc.
My wedding coordinator told me she’d call me after everyone left to walk down to Sea Breeze Point and it would be around 2ish.
So I waited and waited. I was getting VERY antsy. I was all ready to go, but there seemed to be some sort of delay. I think there was a wedding at Sea Breeze Point at noon and it was taking longer to tear that one down and put mine up then expected.
FINALLY Tanis (WC) calls and tells me it’s time! So, with my dress bustled, we head downstairs…

Next up: Ceremony at Sea Breeze Point!

[lurkyloo]

Yay! More update!

So that thing your DH's mom is wearing is a fascinator, and they are really popular in the UK and Australia. Hers even has some of the same kinds of feathers as mine! I get all happy now when I see ladies in fascinators. :teeth:

Patricia did a great job on both moms. I know what you mean - sometimes older ladies are given a heavy makeup mask cuz I guess people think it hides imperfections? :confused3 I think the natural look is MUCH nicer - both moms looked fabulous!

[Boardwalk_bride]

I think you made such a good decision doing your portrait session the morning of! I REALLY want to do that as well, but DF is apparently putting his foot down on how early he has to get up on our wedding day :rolleyes:

I agree, I love MIL's fascinator. I really want a similar one to wear for my ceremony!

[Boardwalk_bride]

I have more questions for you (I hope you don't mind!!!). I just talked to my WC, and I was trying to book my MK/EP shoot on a particular day, but due to grad night, it may not work out. She said, since DF and I are not separating to get them done on our wedding morning (which DF doesn't want to wake up early, but whatever). Anyway, how was the experience for you? Were you really tired the rest of the day? And did you have to pay Patricia twice for a travel fee? Thanks!!! Sorry for all the questions!

PS Please update soon! I have been waiting in suspense for your ceremony pics for so long :rotfl: I am also excited to see your Jiko reception!

[MainStMandy]

Lori I am loving your pictures...but I need more!!!

Df and I are thinking MK and DHS if we do the shoot.

[Lorelei528]

Yay! More update!

So that thing your DH's mom is wearing is a fascinator, and they are really popular in the UK and Australia. Hers even has some of the same kinds of feathers as mine! I get all happy now when I see ladies in fascinators. :teeth:

Patricia did a great job on both moms. I know what you mean - sometimes older ladies are given a heavy makeup mask cuz I guess people think it hides imperfections? :confused3 I think the natural look is MUCH nicer - both moms looked fabulous!

OH!! I thought (for some reason) that fascinators had a veil (ooh, wait that's a birdcage, right?) I'm obviously confused! :rotfl:

I'm so happy about how great the moms turned out! :)

I think you made such a good decision doing your portrait session the morning of! I REALLY want to do that as well, but DF is apparently putting his foot down on how early he has to get up on our wedding day :rolleyes:

I agree, I love MIL's fascinator. I really want a similar one to wear for my ceremony!

Doing it the morning of, although we were both initially worried about it, worked out best for us to be honest. I wouldn't have wanted to have my makeup and hair done again and we were just anxious to relax and get on with the honeymoon part of the trip! :banana:

I have more questions for you (I hope you don't mind!!!). I just talked to my WC, and I was trying to book my MK/EP shoot on a particular day, but due to grad night, it may not work out. She said, since DF and I are not separating to get them done on our wedding morning (which DF doesn't want to wake up early, but whatever). Anyway, how was the experience for you? Were you really tired the rest of the day? And did you have to pay Patricia twice for a travel fee? Thanks!!! Sorry for all the questions!

PS Please update soon! I have been waiting in suspense for your ceremony pics for so long :rotfl: I am also excited to see your Jiko reception!

Of course I don't mind! I hope I can answer them for you! Let's see, well, we really weren't that tired throughout the day, to be honest, it was like we didn't have time to be tired! Plus I know we must have been going on a bit of adrenaline! :lmao: I don't even think it caught up with me at all during the trip, (like the next day or whatever) If I'm remembering correctly, I was only charged one travel fee for Patricia.

ooh really?!?! In suspense? wow! tee hee. Well, I'm writing up the next few installments but as another poster said in a new thread recently, going through the pictures is hard! So, I will try to get something up in the next couple of days! :cutie: The Jiko was reception was great. It's such a stylish and chic restaurant, without being stuffy, you know? Plus of course, the food is AWESOME!!

Lori I am loving your pictures...but I need more!!!

Df and I are thinking MK and DHS if we do the shoot.

I'm working on more! It's tough! ooh! That might be cool! I have to go refresh my memory, but from what I can remember about your dress etc...you could get some really great pics at DHS. (In front of Brown Derby, Chinese Theatre, the gardens of ToT...)

Ok, hang in there everyone, I'm doing my best! It doesn't help that my computer at work does not have a DVD drive, so I can only load my pics to Photobucket at home...:mad:

[Lorelei528]

I’m realizing I probably should have put these in the last installment, but here are some pics of what was going on downstairs while MOH and I were upstairs waiting for the “all clear”. Thought you might like to see…
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/LO011265-1-09.jpg
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/LO010895-1-09.jpg
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/LO010795-1-09.jpg
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/LO010725-1-09.jpg
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/LO010435-1-09-1.jpg
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/LO001335-1-09-1.jpg
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/LO011365-1-09.jpg

[Lorelei528]

So, ok, I must confess I was a little nervous. But maybe more excited than nervous actually. When we get downstairs, I see Tanis (actually, she sees me first and calls my name, because as an Escape bride, I did not get a planning session, so I had not met her yet and didn’t even know what she looked like!) Randy I think also started calling my name so I would look over at him and he could start taking my (with MOH) pics.
The first thing I have to tell you…oh wait!! I TOTALLY forgot to put this in my last installment! When DF and I had returned from our MK and EPCOT shoots, Tanis called me on my cell. She mostly was calling to check in with me, I told her I actually was going to call her in a little bit, I didn’t know how early I could call her. I told her the shoot went really well, except for my flowers were TOTALLY wrong. I told her what the bouquet looked like and what the issue was and also told her the woman who brought the flowers was not very nice or helpful at all and was actually kind of rude, :mad: (I know I didn’t say this earlier in my TR). She assured me she would take care of it and everything would be ok and not to worry and the bouquet would get fixed. To be honest with you, I was skeptical since the woman from the floral dept. seemed so insistent that they couldn’t change it. But I trusted Tanis and besides I was really pleading with her to make sure they came out right.
Ok, so my niece and I walk over to Tanis. I’m all excited to finally meet her and would have liked to have just sat and chatted with her for awhile, but of course couldn’t do that! LOL. So, she hands me my bouquet and apologizes for the mix up that morning. Let me tell you, I almost broke down in tears right there! The bouquet was exactly what I wanted! I couldn’t believe it! I thanked her over and over again and I was definitely getting all teary. She asked me for a hug.
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/LO001435-1-09.jpg
I ended up finding out that immediately after Tanis talked to me that morning, she called Rosie who was my floral coordinator and told her what happened. So, Rosie did her magic and got it fixed and when I told Tanis (and later on Rosie) about how surprised I was about the attitude of the woman who brought me the original bouquet, they told me they had gotten prior complaints about the person and “things were taken care of”. I’m not exactly sure what that meant. I figure that CM was either written up or let go to be honest with you. I mean, the entire DFTW dept is fantastic and this particular person should not be talking to a bride the morning of her wedding the way she did.
Secondly, having never really had my picture professionally taken before, I felt really weird for like the first minute or so of Randy calling my name…”Lori, over here” etc. with the lens sometimes like right in my face...it was funny. But I felt like a celebrity! It was actually kind of cool. I think it wasn’t until then when I came downstairs with my niece and saw Tanis and Randy and Stan were there that I really started to feel special, like a real bride...
We take a bunch of pictures (which I have to tell you, there are some which I swear I don’t remember AT ALL taking! It’s really weird!)
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/LO001585-1-09.jpg
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/LO012945-1-09.jpg
Here's a pic of me showing my niece the hidden mickeys in her bouquet:
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/LO013125-1-09.jpg
and then get into the Model A. It was very cool. (Well, actually it was hot as there of course was no AC in the car, but the car itself is amazingly cool-I mean, if you like vintage/antique cars, which I do and have since I was a little girl).
I couldn't stop smelling my flowers!!! LOL
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/LO013915-1-09.jpg
We are escorted by a DFTW assistant walking in front of us all the way to Sea Breeze Point. This is one of the coolest parts of the day so far.
People started waving at us and I could hear parents telling their little kids “Look! There’s a bride!” and all these little kids were waving too. It was kind of a surreal experience for sure. Again, made me feel like a celebrity or something! LOL.
As our car passes by the BoardWalk Bakery and I’m looking out the window, I hear my name being called out…”Lori! Lori!” I turn and look because I was thinking to myself, “who is calling my name? Tanis? All of my family is at SBP….”
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/128.jpgand you can totally tell by the look on my face in this picture the exact moment it clicks in my head that the person calling my name is….Carrie! (Lurkyloo!)
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/129.jpg

This is kind of hard to explain, but it was almost cathartic when I saw her. All the stress and planning and everything that goes into planning a Disney Wedding, well, I felt because I did it really all by myself with my planner and my mom and family didn’t really help or take too much interest, I had felt kind of alone at times :sad: …except for when on the DISbride board. And Carrie had really helped me out so much, just seeing her right then, it was like I felt this huge sense of relief. And also a feeling of great support. It’s very hard to explain, but basically I was so incredibly happy to see her at that exact second. It was almost like she knew how much it would help to see her right then and there.
Carrie was with Jensey Root of Roots Photography and Jensey snapped a few pics that day of Sea Breeze Point, the car and later, our Dessert Party in Morocco. If you check out Carrie’s “Wedding Crasher” TR, you can read her version of her “stalking” our wedding that day. Here's a pic of Carrie that Jensey took while they were "stalking" our wedding! ;)
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/136.jpg
I just want to say…I am very lucky that Jensey is the sweetie that she is and took these pics! :worship:

Lots of love goes out from me and DH to Carrie and Jensey! (My version of a shout-out if you will) :lovestruc

So, Randy is also shooting away the whole time we’re driving down the BoardWalk. Finally we get to Sea Breeze Point! I knew that all eyes would be on the car as it came up to Sea Breeze Point and me as I got out. And I have to tell you, it felt weird. I don’t like being the focus of attention really, I guess it’s a kind of stage-fright or somethingish. Tanis explains to me and MOH how to walk up the aisle and when to start walking (the “aisle” at Sea Breeze Point comes up from the side. Brides can walk straight up the middle, but it’s a much shorter walk and if you want the full effect and suspense etc., most walk up the side.) So, Tanis tells DN just to walk normally and how to hold her bouquet and tells her when to go. http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/LO014105-1-09.jpg
Then it’s my turn. Tanis fixes my train, asks me if I’m ready, tells me to just walk normally and…..I’m off! Tee hee.

With the Escape Wedding package, a violinist is included, so the songs I chose for MOH and I to walk up the aisle to were: for MOH: What a Wonderful World and for me: So This is Love.
I felt like I was walking way too fast, but I didn’t want to walk too slowly either! LOL. So, here’s me walking up the aisle (you can hum So This is Love to yourself now if you like)…
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/LO014355-1-09.jpg
The “aisle” kind of bends, so you don’t see everyone looking at you at first, until you’re almost to the end of the walkway, I tried to make eye contact with various members of my family, but I think I just was either staring blankly and smiling or looking down (but not too much).
I then looked up as I got to the beginning of the actual “aisle” right at DF. And I have to tell you from this moment on for the entire rest of the day, it was like all I could see was him. (Sorry, not to be overly mushy and whatnot, but really, it was like nothing else mattered the entire day.) I felt like it was just me and him. It was actually kind of weird now that I think about it, but in a good way of course. :lovestruc I felt like I was glowing, I don’t know if I looked that way on the outside, but I certainly felt like that on the inside…

Next up: The Ceremony

[Boardwalk_bride]

I have been having such a bad day, so I was SOOOO happy when I saw you added another installment :goodvibes

I'm sorry to hear you had such a bad experience with the floral person. Your flowers looked nice for your MK/EP photoshoot, but they did not look like your inspiration pic...the second round was much better! I would have been super emotional too!

I love your sweet ride:rotfl: I really don't understand cars, so when I got the Escape questionnaire, I had no idea what it was, so there is my answer! Oh, and I love that you had a wedding "stalker". I want one as well! I totally know what you mean about being on your own, and the disboard support is really important to a lot of us! I think that was really cute you were able to see a fellow disbride!

You all look so good too! I really didn't think I wanted a veil....but you are making me second guess that!!

[lurkyloo]

This is kind of hard to explain, but it was almost cathartic when I saw her. All the stress and planning and everything that goes into planning a Disney Wedding, well, I felt because I did it really all by myself with my planner and my mom and family didn’t really help or take too much interest, I had felt kind of alone at times :sad: …except for when on the DISbride board. And Carrie had really helped me out so much, just seeing her right then, it was like I felt this huge sense of relief. And also a feeling of great support. It’s very hard to explain, but basically I was so incredibly happy to see her at that exact second. It was almost like she knew how much it would help to see her right then and there.

:hug:
I think I had a similar feeling when I saw the Roots for the first time on my wedding day. I had only met them twice, but I just felt so relieved and happy to have someone I knew and who understood what was going on be with me before I got to be with Patrick again. :goodvibes

I was SO excited that day when I realized we'd come upon your wedding, and then when you actually heard me and waved at us as you rode past, it was like seeing a celebrity and having them see you! :cutie:


Here's the link to my Wedding Crasher trip report on the page where the part about your wedding starts. This way people can see shots of all the amazing details at your ceremony site and the screen capture of where we ended up in your wedding video! :rotfl2:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2173104&page=9

[Emimy]

:banana: Yay update!! You know I love your TR! and thankyou for offering me your help, unfortunately we've had to push our date back a year due to our finances... But hopefully you'll still be around when I start my planning!

How exciting that you saw Carrie! Jensey's photos of that moment look great!

Can't wait to read more :)

[MainStMandy]

Lori your pictures just keep getting better! You made a beautiful bride and have made me so excited for our wedding. Your flowers turned out just beautiful too!!

[Lorelei528]

I have been having such a bad day, so I was SOOOO happy when I saw you added another installment :goodvibes
I'm sorry to hear you had such a bad experience with the floral person. Your flowers looked nice for your MK/EP photoshoot, but they did not look like your inspiration pic...the second round was much better! I would have been super emotional too!
I love your sweet ride:rotfl: I really don't understand cars, so when I got the Escape questionnaire, I had no idea what it was, so there is my answer! Oh, and I love that you had a wedding "stalker". I want one as well! I totally know what you mean about being on your own, and the disboard support is really important to a lot of us! I think that was really cute you were able to see a fellow disbride!
You all look so good too! I really didn't think I wanted a veil....but you are making me second guess that!!
Cool! I'm so glad seeing my update made you feel better! I so loved how my flowers came out!! I'm having them preserved actually, but not in the traditional way. I should get them back next month, so I'll post a pic then.
The support a Disney bride to be can find here is unlike anywhere else. I was so glad when I found this forum! (Thanks again everyone for your support! Even if you didn't realize you were supporting me!) :rotfl:
Guess what? I didn't want a veil OR a train at first! I had this idea in my head of wearing my hair down with a tiara, no train, no veil...well, you can see, that vision changed! It wasn't like I felt like I didn't look how I wanted, it's just the way things evolved, you know? I knew it would be hot and after talking to Patricia initially, I decided not to wear my hair down (because it gets very frizzy and I would be very uncomfortable), then while dress shopping my mom in her cute way basically let me know that she would like it if I wore a veil..and I did like trying them on in the store so....veil it was! Lastly, when it came time for dress alterations, I actually said to the seamstress, and I only want a sweep train. All at the same time, she, my mom, my niece and SIL all looked at each other and then me...they all thought I should keep the train and after looking at so many DISbride photos, I realized I LOVED the way trains looked in pictures and changed my mind and kept the train the way it was and didn't shorten it AT ALL! :goodvibes
:hug:
I think I had a similar feeling when I saw the Roots for the first time on my wedding day. I had only met them twice, but I just felt so relieved and happy to have someone I knew and who understood what was going on be with me before I got to be with Patrick again. :goodvibes
I was SO excited that day when I realized we'd come upon your wedding, and then when you actually heard me and waved at us as you rode past, it was like seeing a celebrity and having them see you! :cutie:
[SIZE="2"]Here's the link to my Wedding Crasher trip report on the page where the part about your wedding starts. This way people can see shots of all the amazing details at your ceremony site and the screen capture of where we ended up in your wedding video! :rotfl2:
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2173104&page=9
aww...I love the way you talk about "...before I got to see Patrick again"! sigh. So romantic! I love watching you and Jensey in my wedding video!! (You made it into the long version as well!) :goodvibes

:banana: Yay update!! You know I love your TR! and thankyou for offering me your help, unfortunately we've had to push our date back a year due to our finances... But hopefully you'll still be around when I start my planning!
How exciting that you saw Carrie! Jensey's photos of that moment look great!
Can't wait to read more :)

And you know I love you loving my TR! :rotfl: Pushing back a year? No worries! Now you have even more time to plan! :thumbsup2
I'm sure I'll still be around...you can even PM me if you don't see me posting as much :goodvibes
Here's the thing...I wanted to book the Roots, but they were out of our budget, so I feel so lucky to have even a few shots that Jensey took and will be forever grateful to her! (Plus she's really sweet and awesome!)

Lori your pictures just keep getting better! You made a beautiful bride and have made me so excited for our wedding. Your flowers turned out just beautiful too!!

Thanks! I know how you feel because reading everyone's plans, really made me so excited as well! You'll see, the time will fly by! ;)

[Lorelei528]

Let's start off with a couple of pics, shall we?
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/LO015365-1-09.jpg
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/LO015025-1-09.jpg
Ok, so what can I tell you about the ceremony? I’ll tell you about the main parts of the ceremony, but of course, interspersed were the words from our amazingly cool and well-spoken officiant, Rev.Miller. (www.uniquelyunited.com). Well, we started off with a mentioning of both my father and DH’s brother. Both of whom are deceased. DH’s brother passed away as a child from cancer. We had 2 memorial candles (one for each) placed on a table in hurricane holders (due to the breeze at Sea Breeze Point). Neither of our moms knew we were going to have the candles and I know they were happy we did.
Here's a pic of the table with the memorial candles:
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/LO014065-1-09.jpg
Next, one of my nephews did a reading. “Apache Marriage Blessing”
Now you will feel no rain, for each of you will be the shelter for each other. Now you will feel no cold, for each of you will be the warmth for the other. Now you are two persons, but there is only one life before. Go now to your dwelling place to enter into the days of your life together. And may your days be good and long upon the earth.
Treat yourselves and each other with respect, and remind yourselves often of what brought you together. Give the highest priority to the tenderness, gentleness and kindness that your connection deserves. When frustration, difficulty and fear assail your relationship - as they threaten all relationships at one time or another - remember to focus on what is right between you, not only the part which seems wrong. In this way, you can ride out the storms when clouds hide the face of the sun in your lives - remembering that even if you lose sight of it for a moment, the sun is still there. And if each of you takes responsibility for the quality of your life together, it will be marked by abundance and delight.

Next, was the giving away of….ME! LOL….Now, this was kind of funny. For months and months before the wedding, my mom kept asking me who was giving me away. (It seemed that all her friends kept asking her!). Well, I had wanted to walk down the aisle by myself. It was a decision I had made actually while watching some other DISbride videos (one in particular) and besides I just felt if my dad wasn’t there to do it, I didn’t want anyone else doing it. (This is interesting in and of itself though, because I had always thought after my dad passed away that I would have my brothers walk me down the aisle). Many people asked if I would have my mom do it and that just didn’t feel right to me, to each his own, you know? Anyway, so when my mom asked me who was giving me away, I told her she was of course! But then she would get all confused because she knew I was walking down the aisle by myself. I told her that was correct, but when Rev. Miller asked who was giving the bride away, that she was to answer “ME!” LOL (or whatever she felt like saying) ;)
So, now we’re up to the giving away part and the Reverend asks “Who gives this beautiful bride etc…?” And there is complete silence! I look over at my mom and she is like totally clueless! (Bless my 84 yr old mom! LOL). Thanks goodness my nephew’s fiancé was sitting next to her and nudged her and said quietly something to the effect of “Mimi, that’s you…” And still I swear I heard my mom say “What?” It was like she wasn’t even paying attention! It was soo funny! It doesn’t sound it I know, but believe me, it totally was! So, anyway, my mom finally calls out “I do!” and everyone laughs…my mom is so cute sometimes (when she's not driving me crazy!) everyone loves her...anyway, it was a very nice moment actually. :)
DF and I had decided we wanted to do the “Presentation of Roses” to our moms. So, that came next. Then my niece (the other one, not the MOH) did a reading. She’s a bit shy and doesn’t especially like reading in front of people, so I tried to pick something short but something that we really liked:
THE MOST WONDERFUL OF ALL THINGS IN LIFE
~ By Sir Hugh Walpole ~
The most wonderful of all things in life is the discovery of another human being with whom one's relationship has a growing depth, beauty and joy as the years increase. This inner progressiveness of love between two human beings is a most marvelous thing; it cannot be found by looking for it or by passionately wishing for it. It is a sort of divine accident, and the most wonderful of all things in life.

After some more awesome words from Rev. Miller, my other nephew did his reading:
EXCERPT FROM "A SONG FOR HIAWATHA"
Come join us in celebration, those who love sunshine on meadow
Who love shadow of the forest,
love the wind among the branches and the palacades of pine trees,
and the thunder in the mountains whose innumerable echoes flap like eagles in their eries.
Listen to this song of marriage. How, from another tribe and country came a young man, “give me as my wife this maiden, and our hands be clasped more closely, and our hearts be more united.
Thus it is, our daughters leave us, those we love and those who love us. When a youth with flaunting feathers beckons to the fairest maiden.
From the sky the sun benignant looked upon them through the branches, Saying to them, “oh, my children life is checkered shade and sunshine.”
The two figures man and woman Standing hand in hand together, with their hands so clasped together that they seem in one united. And the words thus represented are, “I see your heart within you.”
Sing them songs of love and longing
Now, let's feast and be more joyous.

Next we did our vows and the exchange of rings…immediately followed by….the Irish Loving Cup Ceremony. See, I guess in most modern weddings these days, there seems to be an extra part of the ceremony added in. The two most popular are the sand ceremony and the unity candle. Well, neither DF nor I liked those. So I did research as to what else we could do…first I found the handfasting ceremony which I liked but had trouble finding a ceremony which wasn’t too obviously pagan or wiccan in feel. If I could, we probably would have done it though. I was beginning to rack my brain…maybe we just wouldn’t do anything else? Then I remembered there is a Scottish drinking vessel with two handles…couldn’t remember the name of it and of course DF is Irish, not Scottish, but you know how the internet works, I searched for Scottish Drinking Cup and got the name “Quaich”. Then I searched for “Quaich” with wedding ceremony or something…I didn’t really come up with much. It seems it’s not really used for weddings. Hmmm….just for the heck of it I searched for Irish Loving Cup (because I had found out that the Quaich is called a Loving Cup). There was only one place I could find something, but it was PERFECT!!!! It was in some bride’s blog I found randomly on the internet...I loved the wording and so did DF (plus he liked the fact that he could have a drink! LOL). I had found a nice, pewter Irish Loving Cup online and had bought it months ago
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/irish-loving-cupforweb.jpg
…so without further delay I give you….
The Irish Loving Cup Ceremony
Rev. Miller: On this your wedding day, we celebrate the Celtic spirit of the Anam Cara. Anam Cara is translated from the Gaelic as “soul friend”. By entering in a partnership with your anam cara, you are joined in an ancient and eternal way with this person whom you most cherish. In everyone’s life there is a great need for an anam cara and so I ask you to toast one another by repeating in unison the following:
(Repeat in unison) Today I recognize you, my anam cara and ask that you become a part of me, in sacred kinship. With you, I have lost all fear and have found the greatest courage. I have learned to love and let myself be loved. With you, I have found a rhythm of grace and gracefulness. Love has reawakened in my life; a rebirth; a new beginning. With you my anam cara, I am understood, I am home.
Rev. Miller: And now, please drink to the love you have shared in the past.
(We each take a sip or in DF’s case, a gulp) ;)
Rev. Miller: Drink to your love in the present, on this your wedding day. (Another sip)
Rev. Miller: And drink to your love in the future and forever more…
(One more sip)
Rev. Miller: The Celts believed that the way you view your future actually shapes it. I now ask everyone here to take a moment to visualize a future for Lori and Eoghan. As a group, let’s think of the happiness in store for Lori and Eoghan. Let’s put their joyous future out to the universe.
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/LO015845-1-09.jpg
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/LO015945-1-09.jpg
After that, we do the declaration etc. and of course, the kissing!
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/LO002775-1-09.jpg
And we are presented to our guests as Mr. and Mrs.! :D


Now, let’s see if I can remember this correctly…because a lot happens right after the ceremony. Hmmm…
I think the champagne toast was next…
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/LO003365-1-09-1.jpg
then we had some wedding crashers drop by…That’s right, you guessed it, the big cheese and his lady! Tee hee.
Mickey and Minnie arrived to help us cut our cake, dance with us, take pics and mingle a bit. I have to just say here and now, the things that we added on to our wedding, though perhaps a bit expensive considering, I thought were totally worth it. First of all, with the MK and EPCOT photos, I mean, you’re having your wedding in WDW, it’s the only chance you would have to be the only guests in the park, get your photo taken in your wedding attire in front of Cinderella’s Castle, and really, you will never be able to have characters at a private event if you don’t have them at your wedding, I don’t know…I just felt like these were the things that were important to me to have, some girls spend the big $ on the dress, some the flowers, some the invites etc. I’ve said this before in an earlier post I know…
Anyway, when we first informed our families of our Disney Wedding and how we were going to have Mickey and Minnie there, of course we were laughed at. My SIL especially was like a stick in the mud about it (but that’s how she is sometimes). But I’ll tell you when the mice were there and for weeks afterwards she was saying how cute it was, how cute they were…
I think even though our families knew they were coming, they didn’t really know what to expect from the mice.
So, I don’t know what it was that initially made everyone turn around, but all of a sudden, here they come up the same “aisle” I walked up! Everyone started cheering and they were waving at everyone. To be honest I just wanted to run over to them and give Mickey a huge hug, but before I knew it, they were right there with us behind our cake table…We made some small “talk”
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/LO003605-1-09.jpg
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/LO003645-1-09.jpg
and then we did the cake cutting/feeding (and no, we did not do the smoosh it all over each other’s faces). After the cake cutting, we did our first dance to “A Whole New World”
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/LO004745-1-09.jpg
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/LO004885-1-09.jpg
and took lots of pics basically. Here are some of the best ones…remember…you asked for pics!
Mickey and Minnie kept helping out!! Mickey (pictured here) and Minnie kept fixing my train!
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/LO005295-1-09.jpg
And it was Minnie who remembered I needed my bouquet for the pics!
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/LO005335-1-09.jpg
LOVE THEM!!!!
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/LO005355-1-09.jpg
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/LO005435-1-09.jpg
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/LO005545-1-09.jpg
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/LO005695-1-09.jpg
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/LO005735-1-09.jpg

While we were taking all these pics, I really have no idea what everyone else was doing! LOL…I think just mingling and drinking champagne maybe? I know eventually everyone was led down to the grassy area to have cake. I LOVED the way the chair covers and sashes came out!
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/111.jpg
You wouldn’t believe all the details that needed to be decided, I actually found it humorous at times, but I realize Disney Fairytale Weddings knows EXACTLY what they’re doing and why they do it (and why they asked me such detailed questions while planning!) We finally finish taking pics with Mickey and Minnie (we only have them for 30 mins total.) It’s really plenty of time, but seriously, when it was time to say “Good bye” I got all choked up and really would have preferred to just hang with them all day.

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/LO006655-1-09.jpg


Next Up: Even MORE pics and the dinner reception at Jiko!

[Boardwalk_bride]

Once again, beautiful pics:goodvibes The Irish Love Cup ceremony sounds really nice! I know DF would have really liked it, but we already choose the wine box ceremony :confused3

Your Minnie and Mickey pictures are sooooo cute! I keep debating whether or not to have them! I really am not into Disney, just Disney World (if that makes sense) but seeing the amazing pictures you get, really makes me think I should have them :rotfl: Oh, and it is so cute your MOH's dresses matches Minnie's!

I cannot wait to see your pics of Jiko and AKL (you know I have been dying to see them)!!!

[Emimy]

And you know I love you loving my TR! :rotfl: Pushing back a year? No worries! Now you have even more time to plan! :thumbsup2
I'm sure I'll still be around...you can even PM me if you don't see me posting as much :goodvibes
Here's the thing...I wanted to book the Roots, but they were out of our budget, so I feel so lucky to have even a few shots that Jensey took and will be forever grateful to her! (Plus she's really sweet and awesome!)

Yeah hopefully you will still be around! :goodvibes

DF & I were also looking into the Roots but when I found out how much they cost, there is just no way we can justify adding that much on (especially as we're only having an Escape wedding.) Randy's photos are awesome too though! He seems like a really fun guy to work with :)

Your ceremony sounded wonderful, and it's really nice to see Mickey & Minnie there! DF would love them to come to ours too but... I'm petrified of them!! :rotfl:

Looking forward to reading more :cloud9:

[Wish on a Star]

LOVE THE PICTURES LORI!
There is so much to love, I hope I remember them all!

I have watched your clip in STVS like 100 times, I'm getting married at SBP in a few days! It's just so beautiful!
I love your colors!- Those sashes turned out to be gorgeous, and I love how well Minnie coordinated with your beautiful flowers!
I literally wailed :rotfl::rotfl2::lmao:when I saw that stalker photo of Carrie- that's priceless! (I think i need a distraction like that so I'm laughing and not messing up my make up on my wedding day!)
I love your dress:bride:- it's perfect for SBP and I love that picture with Mickey and the men with their feet crossed. And finally that picture with you guys and Mickey walking off into the distance is perfect! The caption should say "And they lived Happily Ever After!"
:love:

[Lorelei528]

Once again, beautiful pics:goodvibes The Irish Love Cup ceremony sounds really nice! I know DF would have really liked it, but we already choose the wine box ceremony :confused3

Your Minnie and Mickey pictures are sooooo cute! I keep debating whether or not to have them! I really am not into Disney, just Disney World (if that makes sense) but seeing the amazing pictures you get, really makes me think I should have them :rotfl: Oh, and it is so cute your MOH's dresses matches Minnie's!

I cannot wait to see your pics of Jiko and AKL (you know I have been dying to see them)!!!

Thanks! Ooh! I came across the wine box ceremony while doing my research! It's very unique which I really like! :goodvibes
I was so excited that there was a Purple choice for Mickey and Minnie's wardrobe! Originally I was going to go with their default outfits because I love them so much, but I'm glad I changed my mind!
Sorry it's taken me so long to get to the Jiko and AKL pics! Those are up next I promise! :goodvibes

Yeah hopefully you will still be around! :goodvibes

DF & I were also looking into the Roots but when I found out how much they cost, there is just no way we can justify adding that much on (especially as we're only having an Escape wedding.) Randy's photos are awesome too though! He seems like a really fun guy to work with :)

Your ceremony sounded wonderful, and it's really nice to see Mickey & Minnie there! DF would love them to come to ours too but... I'm petrified of them!! :rotfl:

Looking forward to reading more :cloud9:

tee hee. I actually think it's kind of cute when adults are afraid of M&M! Think about adding a character if your budget allows...if only for more photo ops and to extend the whole ceremony/cake cutting time! ;)

LOVE THE PICTURES LORI!
There is so much to love, I hope I remember them all!
I have watched your clip in STVS like 100 times, I'm getting married at SBP in a few days! It's just so beautiful!
I love your colors!- Those sashes turned out to be gorgeous, and I love how well Minnie coordinated with your beautiful flowers!
I literally wailed :rotfl::rotfl2::lmao:when I saw that stalker photo of Carrie- that's priceless! (I think i need a distraction like that so I'm laughing and not messing up my make up on my wedding day!)
I love your dress:bride:- it's perfect for SBP and I love that picture with Mickey and the men with their feet crossed. And finally that picture with you guys and Mickey walking off into the distance is perfect! The caption should say "And they lived Happily Ever After!"
:love:
Thanks! I've been lurking on your PJ! ;)
WOW! You're watched my sneak peek even more than me! LOL....I didn't think that was possible!
Yep, having Carrie "at" my wedding was like having another "character" there without having to pay! :rotfl: (Character in a GOOD WAY!)
Thanks for the dress compliment! I have to tell you, I just knew it was right for me and we wanted the Model A...and it wasn't until after the wedding and I really thought about it that I realized the look of the BoardWalk (20's Atlantic City) went really well with my dress and car idea!) I couldn't believe it actually! It all just came together visually/theme-wise and I didn't even try that hard! :)
That's one of my fave pics too!
We're going to get that pic of the 4 of us printed out and framed now since I've gotten SO many compliments on it!

Ok, well, hold on, because here's more!

[Lorelei528]

So, after we say Good Bye to our favorite mice, I dry my eyes and we sit down to have some cake.
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/LO016805-1-09.jpg

Now, this was cool and I just have to point this out...I remember watching M&M walk away with their handler...NOWHERE IN SIGHT!! LOL...It was so funny! I'm sure she was somewhere, but not right with them and there they were! Mickey and Minnie just walking down the BoardWalk all by themselves! I kept thinking if I was a guest and I didn't realize they were there for a wedding I'd be like thinking that was the coolest thing ever! You know, just the mice, taking a stroll on the BoardWalk etc...
Anyway, here's our group eating cake so you can see the set-up etc...
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/LO008265-1-09.jpg
and my flowers with the chair sashes-I LOVE this pic!
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/LO008135-1-09.jpg

We chose Chocolate Cake with Peanut Butter mousse for one layer and Yellow Cake with Fresh Strawberries and Mousse for the second layer. I got the Yellow and DH got the Chocolate. I distinctly told him to save me some and we’d switch, but when I went to switch, there was like NO Peanut Butter left in his slice! I got pouty :sad1: and he said “But it was so good, I just couldn’t stop eating it!” sigh. LOL. I figure one day, on a future trip, I’ll order the small cake from the BoardWalk bakery…(OOH! We’ll do that on next year’s trip in Sept! We’ll have a fridge then and my mom will be with us! That will work out great!)

Ok, so we eat our cake and then it’s time for the “staged exit”. (This is when the petal toss or bubble blowing takes place)

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/LO008425-1-09.jpg
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/LO008355-1-09.jpg
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/LO008445-1-09.jpg


I think we took these pics at this point but I can’t remember exactly! LOL
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/LO008105-1-09.jpg
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/LO007635-1-09.jpg
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/LO007575-1-09.jpg

You can see the hidden Mickey crystals on my bouquet stem here:
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/LO007475-1-09.jpg

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/LO007385-1-09.jpg
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/LO008115-1-09.jpg

Again, all I can tell you is, I was like totally oblivious to every one of our guests once we got in the car and started to make our way down the BoardWalk to take MORE pics! LOL, I don’t even remember seeing them walk back to the BW! I was really in La-la Land! I think at this time our guests all make their way back to the BoardWalk lobby and the limo (that comes in our wedding package) starts making 3 trips back and forth from BW to AKL transporting everyone for our dinner reception at Jiko! (I’m pretty sure that’s what was happening anyway! LOL) We hop out of the car to take pics and back into the car to work our way down the BoardWalk.
We tried to make some friends-
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/LO009285-1-09.jpg

and then moseyed down the BoardWalk to have fun with Randy!
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/LO018085-1-09.jpg

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/LO018305-1-09.jpg
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/LO018375-1-09.jpg
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/LO020445-1-09.jpg

By the time we were done, my feet were starting to kill me. And the heat! OMG!! It had to be in the low 90’s by then in the sun and both me and DH were dying! We finished up with some pics in front of the BW and then got in our Model A and made it over to AKL for our dinner reception…

Next up: Our dinner reception in Jiko's Wine Room and wedding photos around AKL!

[Petals & Pixie Dust]

YEAH! An update!!! More! More! No worries...I'll wait! popcorn::

[Sarah <3 Disney]

Love the new pictures! :goodvibes

[Boardwalk_bride]

Woohooo! More pics! The two of you are the cutest!!! You soooo deserve to be on the disney website for SBP!!:rotfl: (seriously though). I love the pics of you with the ducks too! They freak me out, so I would have had a picture running away from them. Randy did a fab job!

[PrincessShea]

So pretty. I love the picture of the flowers right by the chair sashes.

[MainStMandy]

Oh Lori you just keep posting more beautiful pictures!! I love the purple!! And the pictures with the Boardwalk in the background are just beautiful!!

[Stephie77]

lori my fellow rockland'er-:lmao:-your pictures came out beautiful! you guys look so happy and liek you were having so much fun. your flowers look beautiful! can't wait to see more!!!

[Lorelei528]

YEAH! An update!!! More! More! No worries...I'll wait! popcorn::

I'm glad you'll wait because I just realized how long it's taking me to write this TR!!:rotfl:
I think I just like taking my time and reliving the whole thing to be honest. I like having the whole day fresh in my head. :)

Love the new pictures! :goodvibes

Thanks!

Woohooo! More pics! The two of you are the cutest!!! You soooo deserve to be on the disney website for SBP!!:rotfl: (seriously though). I love the pics of you with the ducks too! They freak me out, so I would have had a picture running away from them. Randy did a fab job!

Thanks! LOL...The duck thing was soo cool actually! We saw the ducks following Rev. Miller down the BoardWalk and then somehow they started walking over to us and Randy told me to call to them and bend down like I had food. Being such animal lovers, you didn't have to ask us twice! It was just a special little moment on a fantastic day!
That being said, a photo of a bride running away from a mama and baby duck would make a great shot I think! ;) Randy did do a FAB job!

So pretty. I love the picture of the flowers right by the chair sashes.

I know!! I love it too! I don't know why but everytime I see that one, I smile...(yes, I'm a dork)

Oh Lori you just keep posting more beautiful pictures!! I love the purple!! And the pictures with the Boardwalk in the background are just beautiful!!

Thanks! I think the Boardwalk makes for a fantastic backdrop for photos (well, except for maybe the ESPN Zone!) :lmao:

lori my fellow rockland'er-:lmao:-your pictures came out beautiful! you guys look so happy and liek you were having so much fun. your flowers look beautiful! can't wait to see more!!!

Steph, my fellow Rocklander! Thanks! I have more coming up very shortly...

[Lorelei528]

Ok, so just a few more pics I had forgotten about before it's on to AKL!

These are just some detailed shots I like plus I thought would be useful to brides-to-be...

Here is a (somewhat) closeup of of one of the floral arrangements on our archway floral swag...
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/floralswagkelly.jpg

Here is a cake closeup where you can see the yumminess! (But alas, not the chocolate/peanut butter layer)...

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/cakecutkelly.jpg

And last but certainly not least....the front of our Mickey Head fan...

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/Mickeyheadfan.jpg

Ok, now I promise...on to AKL and our Jiko dinner reception!!! :yay:

[Lorelei528]

It was so funny…the Model A was going so slowly down the BoardWalk etc…that I just figured it would have to go slowly to AKL as well (as I know vintage cars can’t go as fast as modern ones etc.).
But our driver assured me, it (she) can go 45-50 no problem, and in fact “LOVES” I think it was 48mph! :lmao:
Anyway, so it was great riding in the Model A on the way to AKL! There are no windows so there was a nice (though warm) breeze and we were actually able to cool off a bit.
When we got to AK, basically Randy and Stan were taking shots of the Wine Room all set up and then took us around the lobby for pics/video. In the meantime, guests relaxed in the A/C and waited for the last trip of the limo to arrive with our remaining guests.
Here are some of our fave pics from around AKL…

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/LO020295-1-09.jpg

This one is basically "our wedding portrait"

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/LO019355-1-09.jpg

And although we look very serious....we actually really like this one...

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/LO019555-1-09.jpg

Actually, the Black and White version of this looks even better, we just got an 8 x 10 of it framed in this nice black frame and DH keeps looking at it and saying..."...look at us...." tee hee.

I think I may have mentioned my footwear earlier in the TR, but if not...

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/LO021895-1-09.jpg

This picture I absolutely love. I'm not sure how great DH looks, LOL, but it's a totally candid shot and I love the way the light came out and the way I'm laughing and holding up my dress...I don't know, you'll have to excuse my girlyness I guess...

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/LO022625-1-09.jpg

Here’s the room set-up:

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/LO021125-1-09.jpg

Here are some details such as menu cards:

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/LO021105-1-09.jpg

and our placecard holders with placecards. The placecard holders were elephants, lions, zebras and hippos. There may have been one more animal to each set, I can't remember now...but...I LOVE them...

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/LO021215-1-09.jpg

We ended up missing the very first course because we were taking pics, but the very first course was the Taste of Africa which some of you may be familiar with as it's on the regular Jiko menu.
What can I say, the dinner at Jiko was AMAZING! The service was absolutely outstanding as well. My niece (MOH) did a toast shortly after we arrived in the room…

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/LO022825-1-09.jpg

Then it was on to the lovely dinner…this is what was served…(sorry, no food porn!)

After the Taste of Africa, there were individual sampler plates of Jiko's Selected Appetizers. The next course the guests got to choose between the Petite Barbecue Chicken Flatbread or the Chef's Market Appetizer Selection (which for some reason I'm remembering as Ostrich?!?!). Then the salad was the next course. It was a Tomato Cucumber Salad with Red Onions and Watermelon Vinaigrette. Then there was a soup (which I can't remember what it was).
Then there was an Intermezzo (which again I can't remember, sorry!) Then the choice of entree was as follows: Seasonal Lamb Presentation, Oak Grilled Filet of Beef, Market Fish with Maize Crust or Oven Roasted Chicken. The entrees were served with African-Inspired Veggies and Starches...

We took the dessert off the menu (so $4 off of the pp cost) since right after dinner we’d be heading back to EPCOT for our….IllumiNations Dessert Party!
The time had run out on the limo and Model A, so after dinner, we had two vans and one towne car take us back to EPCOT.

Next up: Our IllumiNations Dessert Party!

[Sarah <3 Disney]

These are definitely my favorite shots! Love the first one! :goodvibes

[Boardwalk_bride]

Ohh, your AKL pics are so beautiful!!! The Jiko wine room looks wonderful, and the food sounds really good! The place card holders are too cute! :goodvibes

[WDWBride04/19/2010]

I think I may have mentioned my footwear earlier in the TR, but if not...

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/LO021895-1-09.jpg

and our placecard holders with placecards. The placecard holders were elephants, lions, zebras and hippos. There may have been one more animal to each set, I can't remember now...but...I LOVE them...

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/LO021215-1-09.jpg

OMG, I love the sneakers! I lived off those things as a kid! :cool1: :thumbsup2

OMG, and I love the placecard holders too! So perfect! :thumbsup2

[Lorelei528]

These are definitely my favorite shots! Love the first one! :goodvibes

Thanks! We have more, but mostly of kissing! :rotfl:

Ohh, your AKL pics are so beautiful!!! The Jiko wine room looks wonderful, and the food sounds really good! The place card holders are too cute! :goodvibes

Thanks! We absolutely love it and it feels like home to us, it makes me happy just to be there, and I know it would be great for some pics. The room was sooo nice! Perfect! Classy and modern, yet earthy. The food was delish and I got many compliments on it (even now).
The place card holders are actually the very first thing I bought for the wedding (ebay) and though I didn't realize it at the time, were kind of expensive. (like 5 dollars each or something) But, I really wanted them and couldn't find anything else at all that I liked. I just realized after I actually bought them, to start being a little more conscious of what I was spending on stuff. :goodvibes

OMG, I love the sneakers! I lived off those things as a kid! :cool1: :thumbsup2
OMG, and I love the placecard holders too! So perfect! :thumbsup2

It was either those or my Purple Doc Martens, but I thought the Chucks would be better....:)
Thanks! I really did think they were perfect! :)

[Lorelei528]

I have realized that my last installment was kind of short on text...sorry! I guess I was just so busy enjoying myself at the dinner, that when i think back, I couldn't think of anything else to write about!


Back to the TR!


Now, this I knew was going to be cool…let me give you the history on this…
Back during my trip in ’03 I remember during IllumiNations seeing a section (I think it was near France) roped off and there were like maybe 30+ people in the area. I can remember seeing a girl in a pretty white dress (not a bridal gown) and thinking to myself, “wow, they must be having some sort of thing having to do with their wedding! How cool would that be?!?!?!?” (Little did I know....)
So, when I found out that Escape brides could do this Dessert Party thing, I was totally into it. With only 20 people our choice of location was really limited. Like to only Morocco, but DF and I didn’t care, because we LOVE the Morocco Pavilion! Supposedly it’s the least fave place to have a DP (Dessert Party) because of the view, but I don’t know :confused3 …we could see just fine! :cool1:
In order for me to wear my dress to the DP however, I would have to enter EPCOT “backstage”, so after figuring out logistics with my WC, it was all sorted out.
The DP starts at 8:30 and you have the area until 9:30. Our Towne Car was the last to arrive, so it was VERY cool to be walked in through the back gates,
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/Randy%20Chapman%20Dessert%20Party/LO023605-1-09.jpg

because as soon as they open, guests start turning around to look who’s coming…everyone’s all oohing and aahing etc...It was like the crowds parted for me and DH and MOH…we walk over to our DP area and everything looks beautiful!

Here are some set up pics:

The desserts were based on the "Petite Classics" menu which I customized. We had: Brownies, Cheesecakes, Fruit Tarts and Mickey Rice Krispie Treats...
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/Randy%20Chapman%20Dessert%20Party/LO022995-1-09.jpg

Here's a pic of the centerpieces: Tumblers with colored gel and LED lights plus Glitter LED stars on sticks:

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/Randy%20Chapman%20Dessert%20Party/LO023065-1-09.jpg
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/Randy%20Chapman%20Dessert%20Party/LO023105-1-09.jpg

Now here’s a funny again…as everyone walks into the roped off area, I see Carrie (Lurkyloo). We had previously arranged for her to “crash” our DP, but I just thought she’d be standing on the other side of the ropes while I smuggle her a brownie and/or Mickey Rice Krispie treat and chat with her a little bit. And I’m still not sure how she managed this but as our guests filed into the roped off area, Carrie (along with Jensey Root!) filed in right along with them! :rotfl:
I saw them come in and was thinking to myself…”how the heck is she managing that?” But she did and I know my WC saw her but let it go! (How cool is she?) :banana:

Here's a couple of pics that Jensey took:

Disney Floral must have taken some of these from SBP and I didn't even ask them to! (That's how awesome they are! They think of EVERYTHING!)
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/Randy%20Chapman%20Dessert%20Party/244.jpg

A close up arty pics of the Brownies (some have been eaten):
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/Randy%20Chapman%20Dessert%20Party/257.jpg

Here's another layout pic from Jensey's perspective:

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/Randy%20Chapman%20Dessert%20Party/256.jpg

So, we mingle for a bit
(Here's a pic of me and my mom talking about the merits of the Mickey Rice Krispie Treat and I think you can see a "Delaney's Delight" in my SIL's hand):

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/Randy%20Chapman%20Dessert%20Party/LO024005-1-09.jpg

and have some of our signature drink “Delaney’s Delight” which is actually the Grand Marnier Slushie which I requested. I wasn’t even sure we’d be able to get it, but we could and did! :banana: It was during this time that 3 more DISbrides (along with 2 DISgrooms and one DISbaby!) stopped by! (You know who you are!) Unfortunately, they couldn’t get by the ropes though! :sad2: I chatted with them and took some pics.

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/Randy%20Chapman%20Dessert%20Party/LO024385-1-09.jpg

Before we knew it, it was time for IllumiNations to start! Randy had us all set up where he wanted us for photos.
Now here’s the thing….with all the research I did into our Disney Wedding and the Dessert Party and photography, I never once got this warning from any previous Disney Bride on the boards who had done a DP...and so wasn’t thinking when basically DH and I missed the majority of the fireworks because we had to be facing the camera! :lmao:
At one point I even said Randy “Randy, you’re killing me!” :rotfl:

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/Randy%20Chapman%20Dessert%20Party/LO025145-1-09.jpghttp://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/Randy%20Chapman%20Dessert%20Party/LO025275-1-09.jpg
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/Randy%20Chapman%20Dessert%20Party/LO025485-1-09.jpg
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/Randy%20Chapman%20Dessert%20Party/LO026035-1-09.jpg

and one more from Jensey Root!

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/Randy%20Chapman%20Dessert%20Party/259.jpg

Anyway, so lots and lots of pics were taken, people really enjoyed themselves and then before we knew it…the DP was over! :sad1:

So, I think the best way for you all to check out our Disney Wedding is if you actually see our “sneak peek” video! And if you look closely during the ring exchange, Carrie and Jensey can be seen in the background going by on a Friendship boat (look out for Carrie's big black sunhat, you can't miss her!)
Please enjoy. Here is the link: http://www.stvsvideo.com/sneakpeeks.html
Scroll down to where it says: Lori and Eoghan (Seabreeze and Animal Kingdom).
After the DP, the town car took us back to BW so we could change out of our wedding gear, because the plan was to go back to EPCOT for EMH! That’s right, we were up since 3:45am, and we going to be in EPCOT until midnite! (We’re crazy like that!) ;)

We rushed as fast as we could, but it took longer than expected…we didn’t have as much time in EPCOT as we would have liked. I think we must have gotten back into the park by like 11. We didn’t get to do much, just Nemo and Honey I Shrunk the Audience I think, we might have also done SE, but I’m not sure now (hey, it’s more than 4 months ago!) DH’s bro went back with us into the park and we tried to meet up with my 2 DN’s and their women and my niece (MOH) but the timing didn’t work out so we could only meet up with them to walk back to BW. DH’s brother took the bus back to POR (he’s was a bit nervous as this was his first time taking the bus by himself but he got home fine and we knew he would) ;)
The walk back was nice and relaxing. So far we’ve done EMH at night for MK (twice) AND EPCOT (twice) and we LOVED both! Hopefully on every future trip we’ll be able to do some evening EMH!


Next up: The Day After in the MK and EPCOT with my mommy

[lurkyloo]

Whohoo! The dessert party installment! :banana:

When we busted our way into your party, we had no intention of actually eating or doing anything that would cost money. But what could we do if the bride herself encouraged us to take a few Mickey Crispies home...? :confused3

Also, I have to post these pix Jensey took of your party b/c I :love: them:

http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t63/lurkyloo/Decade%20o%20D%20Jensey/242.jpg


http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t63/lurkyloo/Decade%20o%20D%20Jensey/246.jpg

We loved your bartender - he was really sweet and made us feel welcome even though we were crashing! :rotfl:

http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t63/lurkyloo/Decade%20o%20D%20Jensey/245.jpg

We didn't take any pix of Eoghan's family, but they also were so kind and welcoming to us!

Now I must say that I believe it *was* mentioned in my wedding trip report that the first time DH and I saw IllumiNations was our wedding night and we didn't actually get to see it because we had to face the camera the whole time - it was killing me! We went back to see it the next night, though, so that was good...

It's cool that you got to go back into Epcot for EMH even if it wasn't very long. I guess I never realized that they keep some of the Future World attractions open too!

[Boardwalk_bride]

I love your DP pics! I really like the black table cloths in Morocco...did you request these, or is it just what they gave you? I love the pic of the gate opening too, and you leading your entourage in, lol.

[Stephie77]

Ok, so just a few more pics I had forgotten about before it's on to AKL!

These are just some detailed shots I like plus I thought would be useful to brides-to-be...

Here is a (somewhat) closeup of of one of the floral arrangements on our archway floral swag...
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/floralswagkelly.jpg

Here is a cake closeup where you can see the yumminess! (But alas, not the chocolate/peanut butter layer)...

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/cakecutkelly.jpg

And last but certainly not least....the front of our Mickey Head fan...

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn265/Lorelei528/Mickeyheadfan.jpg

Ok, now I promise...on to AKL and our Jiko dinner reception!!! :yay:
lori-i love all your pictures. they look beautiful! i am glad your wedding was so much fun! i have a question, i am doing the mickey program fans-how did you get the picture of mickey and minnie on the fan? it is so cute, i might have to "borrow" it if you don't mind.....

[Lorelei528]

Whohoo! The dessert party installment! :banana:

When we busted our way into your party, we had no intention of actually eating or doing anything that would cost money. But what could we do if the bride herself encouraged us to take a few Mickey Crispies home...? :confused3

Also, I have to post these pix Jensey took of your party b/c I :love: them:

http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t63/lurkyloo/Decade%20o%20D%20Jensey/242.jpg


http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t63/lurkyloo/Decade%20o%20D%20Jensey/246.jpg

We loved your bartender - he was really sweet and made us feel welcome even though we were crashing! :rotfl:

http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t63/lurkyloo/Decade%20o%20D%20Jensey/245.jpg

We didn't take any pix of Eoghan's family, but they also were so kind and welcoming to us!

Now I must say that I believe it *was* mentioned in my wedding trip report that the first time DH and I saw IllumiNations was our wedding night and we didn't actually get to see it because we had to face the camera the whole time - it was killing me! We went back to see it the next night, though, so that was good...

It's cool that you got to go back into Epcot for EMH even if it wasn't very long. I guess I never realized that they keep some of the Future World attractions open too!

Actually, now that you mention it, I DO remember you saying that in your TR!!!!:rotfl:
I think my mind was just overflowing with information leading up to the wedding, and I hadn't read your TR right before our wedding, (though I have-and do still) read bits and pieces of it, so I had completely forgotten! Oops!

I love your DP pics! I really like the black table cloths in Morocco...did you request these, or is it just what they gave you? I love the pic of the gate opening too, and you leading your entourage in, lol.

Nope, they gave us Black. I can't remember if we could chose from Black or White, or only Black. Anything else there would have been a charge for. I wanted to keep our area as dark as possible, so I went with the basic Black. I know, I love that pic too! I hope every Disney bride that enters through a "backstage" area gets the same feeling I did at that exact moment! I'm telling you as we walked towards the DP area, people just stop and stared and parted for us, it was AWESOME!! (Even though I felt pretty self-conscious at the time). But definitely one of my favorite moments of the whole day/night.

lori-i love all your pictures. they look beautiful! i am glad your wedding was so much fun! i have a question, i am doing the mickey program fans-how did you get the picture of mickey and minnie on the fan? it is so cute, i might have to "borrow" it if you don't mind.....

Thanks Steph! I ordered my Mickey Head Fans from Impressions so I'm sorry I can't help you out with the picture of M&M.... :guilty: but maybe someone here can as I know a lot of girls do them themselves...

[Boardwalk_bride]

I just noticed this - did you have a slushy machine?

[MyMelody]

Love reading all about your wedding Lori!!!


Oh and did I tell you that I :lovestruc the purple converse :laughing: