Faith, Trust & Pixie Dust! Jenn & Kevin 10/12/14 Italy/ADH/France - The End (7/2016 New TR Link!)

[CK 1 and 2]

So beautiful! Love the broach bouquet! I soooo want one myself! Will you be posting your final budget excel sheet for everyone?

 

[DisneyFirefly]

I really hope you get ADH too!! It's coming up on your penciling in time, isn't it? That's at 16 months, right? (we had a 13 month engagement so I only was penciled in for about 3 weeks ) You can do so much with the space and it's really beautiful!

We've still got a few months to go, unfortunately June is sixteen months out, so we'll be able to get penciled in then Funnily enough, while I'm down in Orlando

I really do love that space, though. It's so beautiful

 

[Disneyducks12]

I am loving your PJ and all the details you are including your table signs looked really good! and the candles with the different color water was a nice touch! I agree with the formal entrance such a nice touch!
Looking forward to more :good vibes

Melissa

 

[elphie101]

So beautiful! Love the broach bouquet! I soooo want one myself! Will you be posting your final budget excel sheet for everyone?

Yes I will! You actually reminded me about that hahaha - I kind of abandoned it in the crazyness of the weeks before the wedding, but I do want to complete it and come up with a final (terrifying) total!

We've still got a few months to go, unfortunately June is sixteen months out, so we'll be able to get penciled in then Funnily enough, while I'm down in Orlando

I really do love that space, though. It's so beautiful

Or I could have just looked at your ticker.......I'm an idiot I don't know what I was thinking!

I am loving your PJ and all the details you are including your table signs looked really good! and the candles with the different color water was a nice touch! I agree with the formal entrance such a nice touch!
Looking forward to more :good vibes

Melissa

Thank you!! Especially with those big stairs, I really wanted a proper reveal!

 

[DisneyFirefly]

Or I could have just looked at your ticker.......I'm an idiot I don't know what I was thinking!

You're not an idiot You've got a lot going on, it happens.

 

[Maddie2]

Absolutely beautiful. Everything. So, SO lovely!

On a side, I recall you are from the Boston area. Good luck as you prepare for the giant storm. As long as you are safe and warm, maybe a few snow days will be fun?

 

[elphie101]

You're not an idiot You've got a lot going on, it happens.

Bahaha you're so kind to give me that out. The truth is I have no concept of time and can't estimate to save my life

Absolutely beautiful. Everything. So, SO lovely!

On a side, I recall you are from the Boston area. Good luck as you prepare for the giant storm. As long as you are safe and warm, maybe a few snow days will be fun?

Thank you!! We're hunkered down well and safe and ready for 2+ ft of snow! As for me, I've caught one hell of a cold so I appreciate the extra free day to get well.

 

[elphie101]

Once the music started, we all headed down the stairs in groups (may or may not have been cued by Kristie, I can't honestly remember now) while Chuck announced everyone.








Rather than have Kyle enter by himself, we grouped him with his sister and my brother, where we knew he'd be the slightest bit more relaxed




I don't actually have a picture of Samantha with her eyes open from the entrance - she must've timed her blinks incredibly well with the Roots' shutters!


What Vanessa would refer to as a fantastic dress shot


Here we are!







As we got to the dance floor The Final Countdown faded out and The Luckiest by Ben Folds faded up, and we started dancing. Now, don't get me wrong, I love our song and I love how we came upon it, and how it made me cry when we chose it, but good god if I could do it again I would not have picked a nearly 5 minute song. We spent the first bit or so smiling and enjoying dancing and then we realized just how much was left in the song and spent the rest of it cursing ourselves for picking such a long song.

Also, according to Kevin I was leading him. I decline to comment.






I forgot to mention in the last update that I removed my veil when we got to ADH - and this was just such a great shot of the back of my hair. Love.





Once the dance was over we took our seats and Vanessa was ushered behind us to do her toast. She had insisted on going first since she didn't want to hear Kevin's toast and subsequently become more nervous because of it. Poor thing was nervous enough as it was - her notebook was visibly violently shaking the whole time.




This was when she let slip to a room of predominately relatives that Kevin essentially moved into Vanessa & mine's apartment after about a month.......oooof


The DJ ended her speech with a "Let's here it for Vanessa........she did all right?" Which prompted Vanessa reaction of "HEY!" above (and rightly so!) Considering how terrified she was of speaking, and the fact that I gave her an out from day one of not needing to do a speech I really was so glad she committed herself to doing one, and it was sweet and heartfelt. We tried to give her a hug but she scampered away to the safety of her seat faster than I could get up in my huge dress.

Next up was Kevin - and to my surprise he was just as visibly nervous as Vanessa had been. He told the story of how he and Kevin had met, and how he had met me before I met MY Kevin, and how I had been giving him crap about it for years and years, to which he replied with a very location-appropriate "Let it go".





In fact, for someone who made his distaste for Disney quite clear from the moment we were engaged (in a sarcastic & loveable way) his speech was rife with Disney references, from calling Kevin "a bit of a fixer upper, he's got a few flaws" to saying I was "the Nala to his Simba". It also contained a bit of playful poking at Kevin's mother, as has also been our Best Man's running joke since I came into the picture and "took his place in her heart".





Finally my dad had asked to make a speech, about a few weeks before hand - which turned out to just be a simple thanking everyone for coming. Not what we were expecting for sure!



Continued in next post

 

[elphie101]

We sat back down and waited to be told what to do, so to speak. After a bit Kristie came over and told us that we had actually beaten the kitchen setup over, and they weren't quite ready for us to start eating yet, so she recommended we do our "table touches" now so we didn't have to worry about rushing through the meal to greet people, and of course so they wouldn't feel like they were sitting around for nothing.

This turned out to work PERFECTLY as we got to all 5 of our big tables before brunch was ready (we skipped over the table of my cousins/siblings since they had already spent the morning with us) and got to check in with the family members we hadn't seen yet as well as some friends I especially hadn't seen in years. I think it made a huge difference to people that we check-in with them right away (especially those of the older generation) and I like to think this was a factor in the fact that no one bothered us while we were eating.





We happened to be at the table right by the kitchen door when Kristie came over to tell us our food was ready and we were to be led through the buffet. Kevin and I each had our own server, and we were thrilled to discover my server was Glenn, who had done our menu tasting! Sadly Chef Redgie was nowhere to be seen, but being that the food technically comes from the Boardwalk's main kitchen I have high hopes that Redgie was involved with our day somehow. I suspect we actually beat The Roots to the buffet, as these are the only food pictures I have:





Really though, in the grand scheme of things "I don't have pictures of my whole buffet" isn't worth complaining about!

I filled my plate with some parmsean chicken marsala, Mickey Waffles with banana foster sauce, some bacon, some veggies, and a loaded mashed potato martini AND a mac & cheese martini (I'm not crazy about lobster). Glenn asked if I wanted anything from the egg station, but I thought it was too much food. The omelet chef piped in that he'd be happen to bring me whatever I wanted later, so I rattled off a list of ingrediants on the fly and wouldn't you know it, halfway through our eating an omelet appeared! They actually remembered everything I wanted too, it was amazing and delicious.

EVERYTHING was delicious, of course, and I'm super pleased to say I ate all of it. Additionally, Kevin's server brought him over his mac & cheese martini after we were seated, and put lobster on it by mistake (Kevin has a shellfish allergy), so I got TWO mac & cheese martinis (lobster or not I'll eat it if it's in front of me and covered in cheese....) If anything, the weirdest part was chowing down on our food and realizing that half our tables had yet to be called up to the buffet by the DJ - it definitely went against all good manners to eat before everyone else has been served, but from what everyone tells you pre-wedding about how much you WON'T be eating, we weren't about to pass up the chance to stuff our faces. This was also when we realized there was a massive spotlight on the sweetheart table, so it definitely felt like 70 people were just watching us eat while they waited for their turn.

While we were eating, Kristina came over to grab our rings for photo & video purposes - and I simply LOVE what we got from The Roots!




(In which I will never live down the fact that I freaking MISQUOTED Walt's dedication.....ugh. I'm sure none of you noticed it until I pointed it out but I just feel like such a Disney fraud if I don't mention how well aware I am that I screwed up the quote when I gave it to Vanessa. Grrr. It's so sad because other than that, this is one of my favorite shots of all time.)



As much as I wanted seconds, I was close to bursting after my plate (probably thanks to all those pastries from the pre-reception). Glenn became our official sweetheart table server and was always on hand to get us drinks, clear our plates, or ask if we wanted anything else from the buffet. As things started to calm down to just people eating, we got up at hit up our last few tables. I grabbed Kristie to make sure there would still be food left for my friend Kryssy who was on her way to the reception at this moment - as a working actress she had been unable to leave Saturday night, and so she had to fly in Sunday morning and sadly miss the ceremony.



At that moment, Kryssy arrived, and I'm so thankful that The Roots were able to capture this moment, the first time we had seen each other in 3 years.





I don't really remember how it happened, but someone made it known to us (probably Kristie) that it was time for the parent dances.

 

[DisneyFirefly]

Your wedding is just so beautiful And I love the big vat of Mickey waffles!

 

[Aschenputtel]

Love it! It looked really beautiful! (And by what I can tell as a former assistant of a dancing teacher, you were leading one another ;-))
And the food porn … said there are no more pictures that made me want to head there right now!!! (The mashed potato martini sounds too good…)
And now I finally know how the Roots make all these incredible ring shots! I always wondered!

 

[Seia]

Those ring shots are beautiful, and I love your first dance pictures too! And the Mickey waffles... *drool* Visiting each table before food service sounds like a great idea. I'll make a mental note to try to do so, so that we can be sure we make an effort to have enough time to try almost everything!

 

[elphie101]

Your wedding is just so beautiful And I love the big vat of Mickey waffles!

Aww thank you. Mickey Waffles make ANYTHING better!

Love it! It looked really beautiful! (And by what I can tell as a former assistant of a dancing teacher, you were leading one another ;-))
And the food porn … said there are no more pictures that made me want to head there right now!!! (The mashed potato martini sounds too good…)
And now I finally know how the Roots make all these incredible ring shots! I always wondered!

Bahaha good to know. I think Kevin was just pouting about not being in TOTAL control

Yes! I think it's pretty common to steal the rings during mealtime, since it's about the only time you can guarantee guests probably won't be looking to see them on their own!

Those ring shots are beautiful, and I love your first dance pictures too! And the Mickey waffles... *drool* Visiting each table before food service sounds like a great idea. I'll make a mental note to try to do so, so that we can be sure we make an effort to have enough time to try almost everything!

I very nearly suggested visiting tables before food service, but the only thing that kept me from saying YES is I don't know if it's necessarily a good idea to hold food service from hungry guests solely for the purpose of visiting with them. Honestly though I really do think it is a good idea, and I'm glad it happened that way, and hey if you're feeding them at the pre-reception it's not like they're starving!

 

[elphie101]

We started with the father daughter dance, to Heartland's I Loved Her First. With both parent dances, Kevin and I let our parents choose the song, because we felt the moment was really for them more than it was for us. I would never describe myself as a daddy's girl or being especially close to my father, so frankly I was shocked at his song choice, but I'm the only daughter after all. Clearly it's a popular father-daughter song choice, as it was in a drop down menu of most common options in the pre-wedding checklist we filled out with DJ Chuck.



I guess I was talking a lot during the song (which was what Kevin and I had done) because at one point my dad said "why are you talking so much?" In contrast he was unusually quiet - I get the lion's share of my jabbering and sarcasm from him. I don't know for sure, but my theory is he was getting choked up and trying to hold it in - my mom agrees.







For the mother son dance Kevin's mother had chosen Never Alone by Lady Antebellum (which in looking at the lyrics came off a bit possessive to me but hey, the moment's not about me after all). We knew from Day 1 this was going to be an emotional moment, as Kevin is an only child and his mother's little boy till the very end. She had also asked him from the very beginning to talk to her and make her laugh during the song so she wouldn't break down into tears.





They didn't dance for the entire song, only through about the second chorus, before even the jokes couldn't help and MIL started to get more emotional, so Kevin motioned to DJ Chuck to end the song early. He followed it up with an all-couples song (don't ask me what song, I'll let you know when I get my raw footage back) and Kevin turned to embrace his soulmate-



Bahaha. You can see me with BM-Kevin's girlfriend just out of frame. We have so many sweet photos from this song, it's hard not to share them all!


One of my very favorites


My 3 Disney roommates, love 'em





After this the music launched into some of our requests (we put in for 10 must-play songs, all along the lines of Top 40 stuff) and almost instantly everyone left the dance floor. In that moment it suddenly dawned on me that over half of our guest list was in their 50s or older - and only about half of those that were college-aged had actually stayed on the dance floor. My heart crashed through the floor and I gotta admit, I panicked a bit.

God bless DJ Chuck. He instantly realized this and after 2 songs got on the mic and said "All right, I'm going to need everyone on the dance floor - everyone! - and make a circle with the groom in the center.

"Now ladies, this one's all on you. For this next song, Kevin can dance with any one of the women here - EXCEPT Jenn." We paused, waiting to hear what was going to happen.

And then the intro to I'm Too Sexy blasted over the speakers, and everyone screamed.



I have to say, this was a true testament to who our closest friends are, because it was all the girls who we are closest to that jumped on in, starting with Kevin's girlfriend Suzanna, who fished for a groom:



My Disney girls, who went in as a set:




Now sporting one (1) Best Man's Sunglasses!


Some good ol'fashioned super-white dancing from the palest people I know




And our friend Amanda, who you might remember from the travel day and who happens to be a dance teacher, who stepped in to walk Kevin through the Macarena

It was a bit awkward overall, with big gaps where no one wanted to hop in and dance, which makes me seriously love all these girls all the more for stepping in. Finally Chuck took pity on Kevin and said I could join him for the end of the song.



Next Chuck said it was my turn, but instead of being by myself he asked all the girls in the room to get on the dance floor with me, and played Shake it Off by Taylor Swift (I'm going to assume no YouTube link is necessary!)


No idea what part of the song this is....





Continued in next post

 

[elphie101]

After both songs, DJ Chuck had succeeded in getting everyone up on the dance floor, and returned to more Top 40s - and everyone promptly sat down again. I made the decision at this point not to leave the dance floor and recruited a handful of the aforementioned best girls to help me in my mission to keep the dance floor alive - morning wedding or not I wanted a dance party! I just knew if I left the chance of people staying without me was minimal.

Behold some highlights of my white girl dance moves, and please note I never once said I'm a GOOD dancer!




(This is literally all of the guests on the dance floor out of my 72, to give you an idea of how I felt at the time)



At one point my aunt grabbed my grandmother's wheelchair and drove her out to the floor to twirl her around - and she loved it!



At some point DJ Chuck switched to a slower-dance (I wouldn't say a full on slow song but I have a lot of couple dancing pictures) and then some more classic rock, which kept my parents' generation from leaving. After several classic rock songs I went up to the booth and told him to ignore my requests if it kept people on the dance floor - that was my number one priority!




Because this is an AMAZING shot of the back of my bridesmaid's hair!



I need to put another shout out to the fabulousness of Kristie Pederson at this point. My aunt was hit with a bad bout of vertigo the day before they flew down to FL, and unfortunately it didn't clear up at all while they were down there and she felt pretty sick all weekend. The morning of the wedding she had been doing well, but some of the more strobe-effects in ADH were starting to make her sick, so my mom grabbed me to ask if I could have some of the lights turned off. Before I could do so, Kristie noticed my aunt wasn't feeling well and investigated why, and then took care of the lights before I got to her! Another +100 point to Kristie!

After some time, DJ Chuck announced a special song for Kevin & Kevin, and I knew it was around 1:30pm when we were due to cut the cake, as I had requested this special song be played right before cake cutting (to make sure it would be captured on video before Trinity left at 2:00pm). I scampered around to The Roots and Trinity and told them that the guy's special song was about to be played (basically the only time I did a "Hey, please don't miss this!" moment with any of our vendors, because they were so spot on).

The song in question is Africa by Toto (again, I'm sure it needs no link but it's just such a lovely song, isn't it?) Sometime in college pre-me, the Kevins developed a little dance to this song and ever since then it has become a special moment between them that they've shared with the rest of us. We've been vowing to play it at our reception since pre-engagement.


The dance is basically slowly raining down your hands over "rains in Afffrica" in the chorus, while you descend to the floor. There's not much more than that; the dance in question is at the end of our sneak peek video if you want to see it in action back in the Glad I Had post


BM-Kevin likes to rag on Vanessa for blessing the rain "backwards" in this picture

After the rain was blessed, DJ Chuck directed everyone's attention over to the cake for the ceremonial (and actual) cake cutting!

 

[Aschenputtel]

Wow, your vendors sure sound amazing. Being to lot of weddings I know how much it depends on people if they dance/have fun etc… how great that they all worked so well together to keep everybody involved!
And I think now I have to get a song for DF and his BM (pretty sure it's going to be some video game stuff ;-))
Can't wait for the cake cutting!

 

[Disneyducks12]

I really love all the photos the roots were able to catch especially of the black and white ones really beautiful! and the dancing has always been the biggest fear of mine with weddings not enough people participating but at least your DJ was able to play music to keep everyone on the floor and your husbands dance is hilarious!! what a great party starter everything looks really great so far! Can't wait to see your cake

Melissa

 

[elphie101]

Well how bout the new Disboards huh? I re-read my PJ and I'm a little sad to see some of the picture links are broken (and the text size is WAY off from what it was on the old boards) but everything seems to have come over mostly intact. This thing is my baby! Forgive me if I experiment with formatting going forward

Wow, your vendors sure sound amazing. Being to lot of weddings I know how much it depends on people if they dance/have fun etc… how great that they all worked so well together to keep everybody involved!
And I think now I have to get a song for DF and his BM (pretty sure it's going to be some video game stuff ;-))
Can't wait for the cake cutting!

You should! If your DF and BM are anything like mine they have a total bromance ("it's just guy love, that's all it is") and it'll make for a great moment. DH actually just told me when I posted that update that he and BM had never actually done that dance in public - go figure! I'm so glad they did though.

I really love all the photos the roots were able to catch especially of the black and white ones really beautiful! and the dancing has always been the biggest fear of mine with weddings not enough people participating but at least your DJ was able to play music to keep everyone on the floor and your husbands dance is hilarious!! what a great party starter everything looks really great so far! Can't wait to see your cake

Melissa

I find it so hard NOT to update entirely in black & white in some of these updates! The Roots really knocked it out of the park in the best way possible, I can't say that enough. Cake is coming up next!

 

[elphie101]

The Wedding Day, Part 13 - Cake Cutting and the Final Hour



Chuck led us over and arranged us behind the cake on how to look best for pictures and walked through how we would cut the cake and then feed each other, and "no funny business" to follow. The one thing that was a little odd about how Chuck did things (and I can't attest to if any other Disney DJs are like this) is he gave all our instructions, like "Jenn, stand on Kevin's left" over the microphone instead of speaking directly to us. Maybe he wanted to involved our guests too? Not sure, but we did have a few guests comment on his instructions via microphone (he also did this during the toasts). Server Glenn came over and laid our hands over the knife and instructed us to pause for a photo before cutting into the cake, and how to make two cuts to get a slice out.





The fondant is HARD to cut through! Kevin did all the work, I promise you my hand was there purely for show and after about one budge I don't think I exhausted my muscles at all.




To give you an idea of the sea of cameras we were looking at



I'll spare you a photo of my wide open jaw mid-cake bite, but we were both kind and there was no cake smashing. As I mentioned back during the first look, my many threats of "I'm spending $70 on my make-up and we're getting fireworks pictures later" stuck!

They whisked the cake away and we returned to some more dancing. Kevin had put "Dirty Water" and "Shipping Up to Boston" on our Do Not Play list, but he hadn't included "Sweet Caroline" and being that we were an almost entirely Boston crowd, DJ Chuck got us all in a circle and played it (for they that don't know, Sweet Caroline is traditionally played at every Red Sox home game).


I think it was Nate who got all acrobatic in the center with the fish eye lens


This would be "Touching me" (followed by "touching you")




The always required BAH BAH BAH







At this point, we noticed there was cake at our sweetheart table, so we sat down to eat. DJ Chuck played another couple-y dance song at this point which kept the floor from totally emptying, followed by more dancing.


You can see David from Trinity in the background here - while we were sitting at the sweetheart table David and Kristina came up to say goodbye - it was 2:00pm and their time was up. Part of me waffled back and forth over whether or not to have brought them back for the dessert party (and I still waffle to this day, especially considering the photos we got from the last hour of the day) but in the end I'm glad we made the choice that we did and considering the final price tag (which I'll get to at the very end) every penny saved matters to me, and in the end I'm happy with what we did.


We like to joke this was the happiest MIL was all day! While Kevin and I were served each flavor of cake on the same plate, for all other guests the cake was placed by flavor where the brunch buffet had been and was labeled with each flavor combination, and they went up and chose the flavor they wanted.




My aunt brought my grandmother back onto the dance floor in her chair - this time at my grandmother's request!


At one point while we were eating DJ Chuck played Summer Lovin' from Grease, and the dance floor totally emptied except for Amanda and our groomsman Brian (who's a bit of a theater kid). I think it was a combination of the song and the availability of cake, but those two decided to stick it out and act out the entire song, except that Amanda was Danny and Brian was Sandy. I took pity on them towards the end and joined them.

(Continued in next post)

 

[elphie101]

The last hour of the reception was by far the most alive. It blows my mind to think all the way back to the PS when we extended the reception from 2:00pm to 3:00pm and thinking about how much happened during this hour and what it would have been like if the day was over at that point! We danced to the Cha Cha Slide and Piano Man, followed by Cupid Shuffle as well as some other songs in between. Kevin was a little annoyed at the line dances but I'm personally a huge fan of the Cha Cha/Cupid Shuffle so I was in heaven!


Cha Cha Slide - I can tell by my arm movements






Another circle for Piano Man








And then some Cupid Shuffle.........which I can also identify based on my expression/arms




We snuck off to get our mandatory Root selfie, which bears sharing a) Because ROOTS! and b) Because in the background if you look for her pink dress you can see our friend Amanda manning the dance floor alone. I can't remember what song was playing, but she was the ONLY person who stayed on the dance floor, and she just didn't quit. She stayed bouncing around and full of energy the entire time, god love her. We were all impressed!

The rest of the hour was filled with more dancing, and more general excitement as I think people's taking advantage of our bar settled in. At one point on of my aunts YANKED on the back of my dress and started pulling it around - I could feel the pins on my bustle and I jumped away like I was stepping in lava. She said "I was just swishing your dress!" in a huff because of my reaction but I could feel by how hard she tugged that if the pins weren't there she absolutely would have tore my bustle. Score one point for Kristie's foresight: inebriated guests + dance floor = potential for a broken bustle.





Finally, 3:00pm arrived and the beginning of Don't Stop Believin' started to play. In my opinion this was the perfect way to end our reception and we got the absolute best photos from it.




Ooooo, another great shot of the back of my hair




One of my absolute favorites for the day - so perfectly captures the energy in that moment




My aunt and uncle helped my grandmother up so she could be a part of the last dance - so glad this was caught in pictures









And with that, our reception was over. Those 4 hours absolutely flew by and I couldn't believe it was already time for us to go. It was so hard to leave but we could see the cast members itching to start breaking down. We said thank you and goodbye to Kristie and she told us she would be at Epcot that night on her own and would try to drop by our dessert party. She had mentioned the day before that her assistant Amanda was leaving DFTW the following week (and asked me not to mention it online until she had a chance to e-mail her current couples) and she was going to Epcot with Amanda that night as part of Amanda's farewell tour, and Amanda wanted to meet us! We were so excited to meet half of the team that helped make our day possible, so we gave her a hug and told her we'd see later.