Amanda & Jeff 12/7/15 - YCG/Marina/Ariel's/France - Update 10/25: Napa Rose Chefs Counter!

[Amanda132]

Vendor Reviews

Maybe it's a little early to do vendor reviews since I haven't gotten final products back from the Roots or Trinity yet, but I don't anticipate anything less than stellar work from them. In fact, I think all of our vendors were amazing! Here are some details...

Kristie Pederson, Wedding Planner - A+ - I love Kristie. Kristie was an absolutely amazing planner. I would always copy her assistant on every email, but more often than not, Kristie would respond before her assistant. Her level of communication, attention to detail, and familiarity with Disney weddings could not be beat, plus Jeff and I just clicked with her and would end up chatting with her about anything and everything. And I really feel like she went above and beyond to make sure we got the things we wanted... even the tiny details. Heartbreakingly, she sprained her ankle before our wedding and was under strict instructions from her doctor that she was not able to work it. I cried. Kristie cried. In the end, Kristie's boss was at our wedding instead of her, and it came out perfectly anyway because Kristie made sure every single detail was in our BEO. She even stopped by our rehearsal to see us because she was so upset she couldn't make it to our wedding. Brides that have Kristie as their planner, you are in amazing hands!

Sarah Malfara, Disney Floral - A - Sarah was so sweet at our planning session, and she really made sure I got everything I wanted. Although I didn't make too many changes after our planning session, she was always prompt to respond when I would email her. Also, some of our linens went down in price a few weeks before the wedding, and we saved about $200 altogether! I was very impressed and pleased that she let us know about that savings instead of holding us to the price that was already on our proposal. And the final product... my bouquet, our linens, and our centerpieces came out perfect. She executed my vision even better than I had imagined.

DJ Elliot, DJ (through Disney) - A+ - DJ Elliot does a lot of work for Disney (Star Wars Weekends, Frozen Summer Fun, Star Wars Celebration), but he does very few weddings. We requested him anyway, and he agreed to do ours because he is sort of friendly with Jeff. He was awesome! I only requested two "must play" songs, and for the rest, I told him to play whatever people would dance to. He absolutely did that, and even though we only had 40 people altogether, there were always plenty of people on the dance floor. Plus, after our grand finale song with the confetti cannon, he had everyone leave the dance floor except Jeff and I. He played one final song for just the two of us to dance to in a quiet moment together, and it was the perfect way to end our reception. I'm not sure if this is typical of weddings, but it was such a special moment and really solidified my happiness with choosing him as our DJ. Oh, also he somehow found out about my small obsession with Mulch, Sweat, and Shears (the band that used to play at DHS), and he got a recording of one of their sets and played it as a surprise for me during the wedding. Hopefully there are photos of my reaction because I was shocked and amazed.

Root Photography, Photography - A+ - I already kind of mentioned this in my Glad I Did, but I am so so happy that we had the Roots. They kept me calm before our first look, directed us exactly where and when we needed to be places, and they obviously take amazingly brilliant photos. Although we haven't yet received a final product from them, I know that they will deliver beautiful photos. I've known that I've wanted them to photograph my wedding before I even had a potential groom. After getting to know them, it makes it an even better choice to have had them. Between their quality of work and personalities, they were truly one of the best things about our wedding.

Trinity Wedding Cinema, Videography - A - I can't wait to see our video! David and Kristina were great, but I definitely had less contact/connection with them than I did with the Roots. However, this is due to the nature of photo vs video, and I absolutely can't say that they were lacking in any way. David's communication before the wedding was so great, and he helped me create a custom package to fit our needs. He helped me weigh the pros and cons of having more hours for more footage vs our tight budget. We also haven't received a final product from them, nor do I expect one for quite a while, since we didn't order the sneak peek video as part of our package. But like with the Roots, I anticipate beautiful work from them when the time comes!

LeJeune Artistry, Hair and Makeup - A+ - I am so glad that we had Patricia LeJeune and her team for hair and makeup. I wear literally no makeup ever and wanted a very natural look, and Patricia absolutely nailed that. She did all the makeup for our group, and Juanita did all the hair. Between just the two of them (they were supposed to have an assistant who called out sick), they did hair and makeup for five of us in less than four hours. And the work was flawless. Everyone looked amazing, and everyone was happy with their work. Even my mom was happy, and she is extremely picky about how she looks and almost did her own hair/makeup to have it done the way she wanted. Plus Patricia is super sweet and didn't judge me when I whispered to her, "make them all less beautiful than me."

Carolyn Allen's, Alterations and Steaming - A - I went to Sue at Carolyn Allen's for all my bridal alterations. After my first fitting, my mom liked Sue so much that she went there for her own alterations and actually ended up buying a new MOB dress for herself from the store there instead. My sister/MOH got her alterations done there as well, and my dad ordered his tux there. I had three fittings, and I was so impressed with Sue and her family. You can really tell that they take pride in their work. I had somewhat of a lot of work done on the dress, seeing as I had the whole train of my ball gown removed. It was definitely pricey, but I felt that it was fair. I really felt that I was in good hands at Carolyn Allen's, and it was a great bonus that they also did in-room drop off and steaming for my, my mom's, and my sister's dresses.

SomethingPrintable on Etsy/Vistaprint, Invitations - A - We tried to save a little on the budget when it came to invitations, so we used an Etsy vendor, SomethingPrintable for the design and then had them printed by Vistaprint. Even though this is technically the bargain way to do invitations, I am thrilled that we did it this way. We might not have had fancy envelopes or anything, but I was able to get the exact invitations I wanted at a great price. Victoria at SomethingPrintable was very responsive and extremely fast at sending our designs within just a few days. And Vistaprint may be an inexpensive printing option, but I was very pleased with the quality of the invitations I received.

Honorable Mention:

Wanderable, Honeymoon Registry - A - I know that the opinions on having a honeymoon registry are kind of mixed, but I was very happy that we did one through Wanderable. The fees are sort of middle-of-the-road as far as honeymoon registry fees go, but we didn't feel comfortable straight up asking people for Disney gift cards as gifts. We really wanted to do the honeymoon registry as a way to sort of force ourselves to have the unforgettable experiences that we maybe wouldn't do otherwise. All our items were purchased from the registry except one, and I was very happy with the experience. Plus the site is beautiful, user-friendly, and was pretty customizable.

 

[elphie101]

All hail Kristie, the greatest DFTW has to offer! I'm so glad you had as wonderful an experience with her as we did, even if she couldn't actually make it to your wedding day itself

 

[Amanda132]

All hail Kristie, the greatest DFTW has to offer! I'm so glad you had as wonderful an experience with her as we did, even if she couldn't actually make it to your wedding day itself

I was definitely sort of heartbroken that Kristie couldn't make it to the wedding, but I was still so lucky to have her as a planner!

 

[Amanda132]

December 3rd - 4 days until the wedding

I'm going to start this recap/trip report (is it still a trip report if I didn't travel anywhere?) with where I left off in my final pre-wedding update, on December 3rd. This update probably isn't too exciting, but it explains some of the last minute changes that we made before the wedding.

I have to admit, part of me doesn't want to start the trip report because once the trip report is over, everything is really over. But the other part of me wants to start it now because I still want to talk about the wedding as much as possible and while everything is still fresh in my mind. And that second part of me won.

So on December 3rd, after I posted that final pre-wedding update, I sent an email to Kristie and her assistant asking if I really needed a bin to bring my things to Franck's. All I had to bring was the guest book and pens, so I was wondering if I could just put them in a bag or something.

A little while later, I got a call from a 407 area code. I answered it, and it was Kristie and her boss Janice. Kristie told me that I could just bring the guest book and pens to the rehearsal instead of making a trip all the way to Franck's just for that. Then she asked if I was wondering why they had both called me. I was like, um yes. And that's when Kristie told me that she had an accident and hurt her knee, and she wouldn't be able to make it to our wedding. Janice would be doing our wedding instead.

I was definitely in shock at first. Janice gave me all her contact information in case I needed her for any last minute concerns. Kristie apologized, told me that she cried when she found out, and told us that she'd meet us before the rehearsal just so she could see us before the wedding. When the phone call ended, I processed the news, and I cried. And then I realized that even though Kristie couldn't be there, she had done such a good job of planning, and she would only leave us in the best hands. Plus, this is why there is a BEO that had every single wedding detail in it. Although I was still disappointed that Kristie wouldn't be there, I knew that everything would still turn out great. (Spoiler alert: it did.)

Later that night, we went to Panera Bread with my mom. We talked about what happened with Kristie and about the wedding. And suddenly, out of nowhere, my mom asks if we can add cordials to the dessert party. Now I know for a fact that we had discussed this many months prior and decided not to have cordials, but whatever. I look up the price for cordials, and she says she'll think about it. Then we go home.

December 4th - 3 days until the wedding

So December 4th is the day that I was supposed to finish all my remaining pre-wedding tasks. Instead, my bridesmaid Haley brought me her copy of the book Gone Girl, and I spent literally the entire day laying in bed reading it. Oops.

We also had some last minute BEO changes. To start, two of our guests that were staying at Coronado Springs got a call that they were being moved to Saratoga Springs. Thankfully, it was an easy fix for us to get the van switched from Coronado to Saratoga. Plus they got moved from a moderate to a deluxe, so bonus for them!

Then, my mom started texting me about the cordials for the dessert party again. I got too anxious thinking about adding things so close to the wedding, so I told her to call Kristie's assistant directly. In the end, we did add BOC signature and premium cordials to the dessert party. They ended up being a hit, but at the time, I was stressed about making changes three days before!

Other than that, this was really my last day before people started arriving for the wedding, so I spent a lot of the day doing nothing when I should have been preparing/packing/etc. Oh well, it worked out in the end!

Since there were no photos in this post, I'll end with two. One of the buttons I made to wear at Disney pre-wedding, and one of our first dance at our wedding, taken by a friend!

 

[Amanda132]

Before I continue with my trip report, the Roots posted a preview of our wedding on their blog today!

http://rootweddings.com/blog/2015/12/28/amanda-jeff-orlando-wedding-preview/

Eeeeee I am obsessed with them! I can't wait to get all of our photos! Okay, now that we've seen those most beautiful photos, on with the show...

December 5th - 2 days until the wedding

December 5 was the day that most of our guests were arriving in Florida for the wedding, but we got to a little bit of a slow start that morning. Jeff's family arrived in town early in the morning and were hanging out at their resort for the night, Art of Animation, waiting for their room to be ready. We met them there late in the morning and joined them for an early lunch.

I love the Art of Animation food court! So many different options. I don't have any photos of it, but I know that I had a kids grilled cheese (I wasn't too hungry) and Jeff had a create-your-own pasta. I think he got chicken alfredo pasta.

While we were sitting eating lunch, Jeff's mom got a text that their room was ready. They had a room for the night in the Little Mermaid section. If you've never stayed in Art of Animation, the rooms are really well themed to whatever section you're in. It's all very cute!



Jeff, his brother Jon, me, and my bridesmaid Haley hanging out in his family's Little Mermaid room

Soon, I got a text from my sister that she was there to pick us up for our pre-wedding manicures. So we said goodbye to Jeff and his family and headed to the nail salon.

I had booked manicures for myself, my sister Samantha, and Haley at a place called Debonair Nails in Orlando. The place had really good reviews, and they did do great work. However, I think I was overcharged for my manicure (I didn't realize until afterward when we were back in the car comparing what we'd each paid), so I don't think I'll be back to that salon. Oh well.



My gel nails, French manicure with glitter on the tips



My sister and I in the car after our manicures



While we were getting our nails done, Jeff and his brother were hanging out with a Jawa at Hollywood Studios

After our manicures, my sister dropped Haley and I back at my apartment, where I finally actually sat down and wrote my vows. It took a little time and a lot of declaring "I don't know how to explain how I feel... I just feel it!" But I finally finished the vows, Haley proofread them, and then she and I hung out at the apartment waiting for the boys to get back from Studios.

By this time, it was evening, and once the boys got back, we decided to head to our local Burger King for dinner. This was one of those times that we were wishing we had started our stay at Walt Disney World earlier. Since we're local, we tried to save money by only staying on property from December 6th to the 8th. In retrospect, I do sort of wish that we had stayed from the 5th to the 9th. It was kind of sad to see all our friends and family on vacation, while we were still staying in our own apartment.

That night, we had informal plans to meet our friends and family at Port Orleans Riverside for Yehaa Bob. If you've never seen Yehaa Bob, he plays sing-along songs at the bar Port Orleans a few nights a week. It's interactive and a lot of fun. We had told our guests that we were planning on arriving around 7:30 to get tables for his show starting at 8:30. In actuality, we ended up arriving at Port Orleans super early, at around 6:30. So we hung out around the resort for a while until we decided it was time to get tables.

We ended up being able to get four tables altogether, all near each other. And we actually had a great turnout! I'd say about 20-25 of our guests showed up to enjoy the show and see us. For the beginning of the show, I was having a great time. We were drinking and singing and dancing. We had told Bob that we were getting married in a few days, so he kept calling us up to participate.



Jeff and I doing some kind of marching

Unfortunately, as more and more of our guests arrived, I started to get a little bit overwhelmed. It was loud, and I was starting to get tired. I'm the sort of person who can only handle a certain amount of attention and socialization. A lot of social interaction kind of wears on me after a while. So after a few hours of loud music and lots of attention, probably coupled with the stress of getting married in two days, I had an anxiety attack and had to step outside.

I threw a small fit ("this wedding is a big mistake, we should have just eloped!"), and then, with the help of Jeff and Haley talking me down, I got myself together and went back inside. We mingled for just a bit more, said goodbye to those who hadn't left yet, and got ready to head home.

At this point, Jeff ended up having to pick his dad up from the airport, since he had taken a different flight from Jeff's mom, so he went to do that. My friend Jessica drove Haley and I back to my apartment, where I started packing my bag for checking into the Beach Club the next day. While I waited for Jeff to get home, I got our last minute things together and made a list of important things that we could not forget. Soon Jeff came home, quickly got his things together for the following day, and we went to bed. The next day would be big - the rehearsal day!

 

[ADLFAN]

I love your wedding pictures so much!! The purples look beautiful and vibrant, it was a great choice! I can tell you'll have one of those weddings that send people (ok, ok, including myself even though I don't have have a Florida trip even planned!) in droves to the Root's website! Can't wait to see more!

Ugh, I get that social anxiety too, and it is such a bummer. Glad your man is willing and able to understand that and 'talk you down'! My husband just looks at me funny because I must be psycho to be over reacting to something again...

 

[rachel09985]

Really love your recaps! I need to do that. I have a lot of similar feelings about our wedding.

 

[Seia]

Your preview photos are beautiful!! I can't wait to see the rest.

 

[Amanda132]

I love your wedding pictures so much!! The purples look beautiful and vibrant, it was a great choice! I can tell you'll have one of those weddings that send people (ok, ok, including myself even though I don't have have a Florida trip even planned!) in droves to the Root's website! Can't wait to see more!

Ugh, I get that social anxiety too, and it is such a bummer. Glad your man is willing and able to understand that and 'talk you down'! My husband just looks at me funny because I must be psycho to be over reacting to something again...

Thank you! I love them too! I can't wait to see the rest.

Yes, thankfully Jeff is very understanding most of the time that I have a tendency to get overwhelmed/anxious. Though he does get frustrated I think that sometimes he can't really do anything about it other than wait it out.

Really love your recaps! I need to do that. I have a lot of similar feelings about our wedding.

Thanks! You should do a recap too!

Your preview photos are beautiful!! I can't wait to see the rest.

Thank you! I can't wait to see them either! There aren't a ton of pictures from the reception in the recap, and I want to see what moments they captured there too.

 

[Amanda132]

December 6th - Rehearsal Day! - Part 1

On December 6th, we woke up pretty early. We had an exciting and busy day ahead of us! We finished our last minute wedding packing and got ready to head to our home for the next two nights: the Beach Club!



Maybe now is a good time to say that I cannot stress enough how great it was that Carolyn Allen’s delivered my wedding dress directly to the resort. Sue at CA did my alterations, and I was very happy when I heard that they had an option where they would deliver and steam my dress on the morning of the wedding. On the 6th, our room wasn’t ready until several hours after we got to the resort. I would have either had to leave my dress in the car or with bell services until the room was ready. And knowing me, I would have been stressed about it. It was so nice to know that I didn’t have to worry about my dress until the following morning when it would be delivered right to me. And it was so nice to not have to worry about packing the dress as we got into the car to head to Disney.

Anyway, as soon as we got to the car from my apartment, I realized I forgot the bride and groom Mickey ears and ran back in. Good thing I did because I realized once I went back into the house that I had forgotten my wallet too! Oops!

Now that I had reunited with my almost-left-behind wallet, we stopped by Target quickly to pick up a few things, and then we were off to Disney! I believe we arrived at the Beach Club around 9:30 am. We had a reservation at Captain’s Grille at the Yacht Club at 9:55, so we figured that we had enough time to check in quickly before heading over.

I purposefully didn’t do online check-in because I wanted to ask (read: beg) for an upgrade to club level. Unfortunately, the resort was full, and they didn’t have any club level available. They did, however, upgrade us from Standard View to Garden View, and they were able to grant our request for a king bed. Woohoo! They took my phone number and told me that they would text me when my room was available.

While we were checking in, I was wondering where our parents were, since we were supposed to meet them for breakfast. I happened to look over, and it turns out my mom and dad were right next to us, also checking in! They had stayed at the Boardwalk the night before and were switching to the Beach Club for the next two nights.

Once we were all checked in, Jeff went to park the car, and my parents and I started walking to the Yacht Club. Let me tell you, the three of us walking from the Beach Club to the Yacht Club was like herding cats. My mom was all excited about the wedding and staying at the Beach Club and was pointing out literally everything we passed by. Meanwhile, I was more focused on trying not to be late for our breakfast reservation.

We finally made it to the lobby of the Yacht Club and waited for Jeff and his parents. Turns out his parents were also checking in to the Beach Club, but they all arrived shortly after. We checked in to Captain’s Grille, and as we waited to be paged, I quickly ran to the front desk to change my PIN. Turns out that your PIN carries over from trip to trip, and mine was still active from when I set it up in the summer of 2014. I had no idea what it was, but I was able to quickly change it just in time to be paged for our table.



Jeff took this self-timer picture of none of us looking at the camera? Me, my dad (behind my big head), my mom, his mom, his dad, and him

Captain’s Grille has two options for breakfast: a buffet or a la carte. We all chose to order a la carte, but the buffet sounded good too. If I remember correctly, both my mom and I got the citrus-scented french toast. Jeff’s mom got oatmeal, and his dad got an omelet. Jeff got chocolate chip pancakes. And I can’t for the life of me remember what my dad got. Unfortunately, I don’t have pictures of any of it. But I do have a picture of me with my strawberry mimosa!



Breakfast was really good, but I was really anxious about the rehearsal and couldn’t eat much. This pretty much began a trend where I didn’t eat much for the next two days or so. Too many butterflies in my stomach!

We planned this breakfast as a thank you to our parents for everything they did with helping us with the wedding. This was our gift to them, instead of getting them one of those really, out of character for us, sentimental parent gifts that are usually given. They seemed really happy that we did this for them. Hopefully they were!

After breakfast, we walked the long way back to the Beach Club, so we could pass the gazebo where we would have the rehearsal in a few hours and the wedding in just one day! We stopped on the way to take a photo.



My parents with Jeff and I

We met up in the lobby of the resort with Jeff’s aunt and brother Jon, plus my bridesmaid Haley. At this point, we found out that Jeff’s groomsman, Jay, and Jay’s parents had arrived and had a room ready. Jeff’s aunt’s room was ready as well. We went up to the second floor to check out their rooms, and soon Jeff’s parents’ room was ready too.

We socialized for a bit and then realized that we ought to get our things out of the car, even though Jeff and I still didn’t have a room. We went back to the car to grab our suitcases and left the things in his parents’ room. Soon Jeff decided to go to the arcade with Jon and Jay, and his parents disappeared to somewhere too. Haley and I now realized that we were the only two left, and we were room-less.

We wandered around the resort and then back down to the lobby to ask a Cast Member if they knew when our room would be ready. This is where it got amusing. I was wearing my bride t-shirt and my bride Mickey ears, and I was with Haley, who was wearing a black dress. After a few “congratulations” while walking the hotel, Haley said to me, “I think people think that we’re marrying each other.” Which was a pretty logical conclusion, considering how we were dressed. We enjoyed the misunderstanding for a while, both responding “thank you!” when people would congratulate me/us.

When we got to the front desk, we spoke to a lovely Cast Member who told us that according to his system, our room was cleaned but not yet officially confirmed to be ready. He said he would let someone know that we were waiting and to expedite the checking of the room. We thanked him and while still in the lobby, someone came up to me and asked if I was getting married the following day. It was @rachel09985, and she was getting married the next day too! We introduced ourselves and commiserated over the last-minute wedding stress. Then we both headed off, to get ready for our respective rehearsals!

Haley and I decided to stop by my parents’ room, so I could change into the dress I wanted to wear for the rehearsal. While we were there, my mom gave me my early birthday present: the Disney Dooney and Bourke bag that I had been wanting!

I quickly changed purses from the one I was wearing to that one, and I got changed into my dress. I put on my bride-to-be sash, and my mom brought sashes for my sister Samantha, Haley, herself, and Jeff’s mom as well! Then Haley and I headed to the Yacht Club ahead of everyone.

While we were walking from the Beach Club to the Yacht Club, we noticed that Jeff and his family and friends were taking photos outside.



Jay, Jeff, and Jon

Even though Kristie had hurt her knee and wasn’t able to work our wedding, she wanted to stop by before the rehearsal to see us. So Jeff and I met her in the Yacht Club lobby before the rehearsal started. We all had hugs and chatted for a bit, and this is also when we met Janice, who would be our planner for the rehearsal and the day-of.

Soon, it was time to begin the rehearsal, so we said goodbye to Kristie and promised to send her photos. Then we headed to meet our families at the gazebo.

Sorry if this update has been super long, I can’t help myself but try to remember and write down every minute! The next update will be the rehearsal itself!

 

[rachel09985]

I didn't know you could tag people on the disboards! Good to know! We should have taken a picture together. Or on the wedding day! That would have been cute

 

[Doodlebug25413]

Awww, you look so happy & excited!! I can't wait to hear more!!

 

[elphie101]

Eeee almost rehearsal time!! How exciting!

Captain's Grille is great for a parent thank you breakfast if you're in the area (if I do say so myself ) I'm sorry you had so many jitters and nerves pre-wedding! It does help reading this to know how much you enjoyed yourself day-of though - kind of a spoiler-alert on the happy ending!

 

[Amanda132]

I didn't know you could tag people on the disboards! Good to know! We should have taken a picture together. Or on the wedding day! That would have been cute

Haha yes, I think it's a relatively new feature! We definitely should have taken a photo on the wedding day. I didn't even think about it at the time!

Awww, you look so happy & excited!! I can't wait to hear more!!

Thank you!

Eeee almost rehearsal time!! How exciting!

Captain's Grille is great for a parent thank you breakfast if you're in the area (if I do say so myself ) I'm sorry you had so many jitters and nerves pre-wedding! It does help reading this to know how much you enjoyed yourself day-of though - kind of a spoiler-alert on the happy ending!

Captain's Grille was great! We were originally planning on Trattoria al Forno, but I changed it due to the overwhelming support for Captain's Grille on Facebook. We were very happy with our choice!

I definitely did have a lot of pre-wedding nerves, but I knew I would. I'm just that kind of person. What I'm very surprised about, and is probably a great testament to Disney, is that I had almost no nerves at all on the wedding day. The only thing I was afraid about on the actual day is that I would pass out during the ceremony (I work with someone that this happened to!) and that I would say the wrong name during the vows (which is dumb and a crazy/hilarious fear, and I did say the right name!).

 

[Amanda132]

Before I begin the next part of my trip report, I have to share my wedding slideshow! My birthday was a few days ago, and I got an email from the Roots saying that they’re still working on our full gallery but wanted to share our slideshow as a birthday present! They’re so sweet. Also, I definitely cried watching this. I am so in love with our photos!

http://clients.rootweddings.com/AmandaJeff/_files/iframe.html

Also literally while I was typing this update, the Roots sent me our full gallery!

You can see them here, and the password is "reisdorf".

http://shop.rootweddings.com/f426030468

Now on with the show…

December 6th - Rehearsal Day! - Part 2

Disney can’t confirm your rehearsal location or time until 30 days before your wedding, but we were lucky to get the time and location we wanted.



We all headed to the gazebo, where Janice told us that she would lead us through the ceremony itself first, then the recessional, and then the processional. This is so when we practiced the processional, we’d all know where to stand when we got to the gazebo.



They had the gazebo set up with an altar table, which we didn’t need and was promptly moved. They also had a few chairs set up, which was nice because there were a few friends/family that joined us to see the rehearsal that weren’t actually in it.

First, Janice arranged us how we were going to stand. If you’re getting married in the gazebo, you can choose to have your wedding party inside the gazebo with you or outside on the lawn. We only had two attendants each, so we chose to have them stand inside the gazebo with us.

We ran through parts of the ceremony, and Janice reminded Leah (our friend/officiant) to tell everyone to stand when I came down the aisle and then sit when I entered the gazebo. This was actually one piece of advice that all of our vendors offered us, when I told them that we had a friend performing our ceremony: make sure she tells everyone to sit when I enter the gazebo.



We had a lot of fun and laughs at the rehearsal. You can see here that we were taking it only semi-seriously. Also, Haley was wearing my bride ears. I think I was getting annoyed at the wind blowing them off my head.

Everyone thought it was really funny when I asked if we could run through the "repeat after me" part because I was afraid to say the wrong name during the ceremony. This may be a silly fear, but I do have reasons why I was afraid! Every person I ever dated, coincidentally, had a name that started with J. Add to that the fact that everyone in Jeff's wedding party had a name that started with J. There were too many J names in my head, and I had this crazy fear that I would say the wrong one. (Spoiler alert: I didn't say the wrong name during the wedding.)

Then a bit later, when Leah was reading through the ceremony (which I wrote), my dad asked if I could change a part he didn’t like:

In Robert Fulghum’s book “True Love,” he says, “We’re all a little weird. And life is a little weird. And when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall into mutually satisfying weirdness—and call it love—true love.” I am here, presiding over this wedding, because I do believe that Jeff and Amanda are mutually weird.​

I guess my dad didn’t think it was “wedding appropriate” to say that Jeff and I are weird in our ceremony. I was rather upset about this because this was one of my favorite parts in the ceremony. Eventually I decided that my dad would just have to live with it because I wanted to keep that part. It was very us, which is what I wanted our ceremony to be. And Leah does think that we are mutually weird. In retrospect, I am happy that I kept that part in our wedding. It does describe us, and having things like that made the ceremony feel more personal to us. Also, I never knew that my dad was such a wedding traditionalist until the rehearsal day.

Anyway, after that Janice showed us how to best position our hands when we do the ring part, and then it was time to practice the recessional. Leah would announce us, we would wait for three full seconds so our photographers could get pictures, and then we would walk back up the aisle. Then we would be whisked away (to a stairwell) while Samantha and Jon, followed by Haley and Jay and then Leah, would walk up the aisle. Then, we were told, the wedding assistants would stage everyone for the petal toss, and then we would reappear and do the staged exit.



Practicing the recessional





Once we were good with the recessional, Janice staged us for the processional. At the gazebo, you have the choice of entering the short way (from the door/pathway on the right if you're facing the gazebo) or the long way (all the way down the long pathway, coming from a door on the left). Kristie had let me decide where I wanted everyone to enter from, and I chose the long pathway. I wanted to use a different song for the groomsmen, the bridesmaids, and me, so I wanted the pathway to be long enough to hear most of each song.

Leah was the only one who would enter down the short pathway. She was going to enter to no music and give a short announcement reminding our guests not to use the cameras (which they would ignore). Then the music would begin, and the rest of us would enter down the long pathway.

We lined up in the order that we would walk down the aisle. Jeff and his parents first, then Jon, then Jay. Then the music would change, and Haley would walk down, followed by Samantha. And then the music would change one more time, and I would walk down with my parents.



Practicing walking down the aisle. That taller part of the building, all the way towards the back on the right, is where we all entered from.

Once we practiced walking down the aisle, we practiced my parents “giving me away.” The original way Janice guided us to practice, Jeff would kiss my mom and shake hands with my dad. Then I would kiss my mom, and she would sit down. Then I would kiss my dad, he would give my hand to Jeff, and we would walk into the gazebo. Well I was not a fan of this. I had a small meltdown and declared, “I do NOT want to be handed from anyone to anyone. I will walk into the gazebo with Jeff on my own accord because it is my decision.”

Everyone was semi-amused by this except me, who was not aware until two minutes prior that there was supposed to be a legitimate handing off of the bride from her father to her husband, which I was most definitely not cool with. I turned to Janice and asked what else we could do that did not involve what I was perceiving as the exchanging of me as property. In the end, we decided that Jeff would kiss my mom and shake hands with my dad. Then I would kiss my mom, and then my dad, and then Jeff and I would just walk into the gazebo. This seems pretty obvious now, but at the time, it was very confusing trying to figure out how to make it work for some reason. I guess normally people don’t have bridezilla moments over being given away.

Once I was sufficiently pleased with what we would do when we reached the end of the aisle, we ran through the beginning of the ceremony one more time, and then we practiced the recessional one more time. While we were doing that, Jeff got a text that our room was finally ready - hooray!

Janice asked us if we were all comfortable with what we were supposed to do during the ceremony, and we all agreed that we were. She bid us goodbye until the following day, and we meandered back to the Beach Club to get ready for the rehearsal dinner. We did stop to get a few pictures on the way.



My sister and I at the marina

At this point, we were nearing 2:00, and we had told everyone to meet us at the Beach Club lobby at 2:30 to head to the rehearsal dinner at the Hoop-Dee-Doo Revue at Fort Wilderness. So we quickly moved our things from Jeff’s parents room to ours, and I changed my shoes from flats to heels (this would be a mistake).

For some reason, I did not take any pictures of our room. But it was a beautiful big room with a king-sized bed. It was huge, which was really nice for getting ready on the morning of our wedding! The renovations on the rooms at the Beach Club really look great.

I do have some photos of the view from our room. We had a garden view, overlooking the volleyball court. You could also see the lake from our room if you turned to the left.





I loved our room so much. But it was time to meet our families and friends in the lobby to get ready to head to Hoop Dee Doo!

Up next: The rehearsal dinner!

 

[Lauren1027]

Yay! I just found out that Kristie is my wedding planner too! I'm so glad that I'm in great hands. We just had our first phone appointment with her yesterday and it went well. I can't wait to meet her at our planning session.

Looking forward to hearing about your rehearsal dinner...and even more, your wedding day!

 

[Lauren1027]

Ok, commenting back-to-back because WOW! YOUR PICTURES ARE AMAZING!!! So beautiful and unique. I so wish The Roots were in my budget!

 

[Doodlebug25413]

Who the heck was the kid snooping in the window?? At least he could have smiled or something wth?? LOL

The tablecloth covers for your reception are to die for. How elegant & beautiful. I'm totally loving the purple!!
And I can't wait to watch the video (if you have one) for the reception, because holy cow y'all looked like you had a grand time!

I'll be seeing the Gazebo in a couple of months! You've made me excited!!

 

[TinkLoverSam]

I walked even further, from the main lobby of yacht club down the wooden boardwalk to the brick path... It was so long I couldn't even see the gazebo from where we left the hotel!

 

[Sarah28]

Loving your updates Amanda, congratulations! Your photos are beautiful, love the purple!! We are also using a lot of the same vendors as you guys, so am super happy you have great things to say about all of them Cant wait to read more!