Sarah & Fred - 1.11.07 - AK/MK - The Perfect Midnight Stroll

[princessdisneybelle]

Your TR is great so far. I can't believe you did all that yourself! Thanks for sharing with us.

 

[DisBride2007]

Sarah,

Thank you so much for sharing your magical story with us. I am really loving your TR and all the gorgeous pics!

 

[jmmastra]

Thanks for sharing Sarah....you TR is great!

 

[Pooh_Friend#1]

Sarah,

I am loving your TR. Thanks for sharing your amazing story with us. I cannot believe someone ran into you at the toll on your way to the cruise!!! I would be in hysterics!!!

 

[JJClemson]

Sarah, wow you put a whole lot of work into your wedding! The finished product looked amazing though I never knew the Tusker House was so beautiful either! Having dinner before the ceremony is a great idea for a late night ceremony. I love all you pictures! Thanks so much for sharing with us

 

[disney kid at heart]

Now, thanks to an incredibly good rate through our American Express card and a magical upgrade we had priority boarding. That started at 10am and we had originally planned to arrive in Ft. Lauderdale in time. This all changed when we realized that we would get no virtually no sleep for the third night in a row, so we decided to blow off the priority hoopla, leave Orlando a little before 10am and arrive in Ft. Lauderdale around noon. That was the plan at least.

The next morning came way to soon and I we were both slow to rise. We didn’t manage to drag ourselves out of the bed and into the shower until 30 minutes after the alarm went off. We piddled around a little, took our time getting ready, and slowly packed up the last remaining remnants of wedding planning. By the time everything was properly loaded into the car it was already 11:00. So much for the plan!

We headed our of the parking lot, jumped on I-4 and proceeded to get onto the turnpike. We made it to the first toll booth in pretty good time, so we were no longer worried about missing the boat. (The literature listed 2pm as the last boarding time.) Fred stopped at the toll booth and started to hand the worker the toll when WAM! It took me a few seconds to realize what had happened. We had been rear-ended ... at the toll plaza .... on our “honeymoon” ....

I of course became a babbling idot. I stared crying, telling Fred we were going to miss the boat, our wedding would be ruined, etc. (Yes, I admit I was a tad irrational at that point!) He got me to calm down, asked the toll booth operator to call the turnpike patrol, and pulled through the toll booth into a small parking lot next to the turnpike office. He got out to assess the damage (which was minimal) and started talking to the driver of the other vehicle. I on the other hand, frantically searched for our boarding documents for a number to call. (We had about an hour and a half of driving ahead of us, it was almost noon, and we needed to be there by 2pm at the latest.) After finding an appropriate number, I get a nice young British woman, named Samantha, and she is willing to listen to me freak out. She takes down our information, explains to us that she is sending a special alert to the terminal about our present situation, and assures us that as long as we get to the terminal by 4pm we will get on the boat. 4pm???? Where did that come from??? The literature says 2pm! Um...turns our the nice folks at Cunard do the same thing we do. (i.e. telling wedding guests the bus leaves 15minutes earlier than it does.)

So after thanking the nice woman for her help, I get off the phone, look around, and realize that this event needed to be documented! So, in true Disney Bride fashion I grab the camera. Now, I didn’t really think it proper to hop out of the car and start snapping away, so I proceed to covertly take photos of the situation.

After about fifteen minutes or so, the turnpike police show up and write up their little report. Turns out the driver of the other car is from Brazil and is heading to the Miami airport for their return trip home after a Disney World Vacation. It take another thirty minutes or so for everything to wrap up and we finally get underway a little before 1pm. Michelle’s husbands’ directions are right on and we pull into the park and cruise lot at 2:15. We evidently arrived at the perfect time because a bus was waiting to take us to the terminal. So, after gathering all our stuff we hopped on.

On the short ride, someone noticed the bride and groom mickey pins I had made and asked if we had just gotten married at Disney World. We told them we were going on a pre-ceremony “honeymoon” and explained that the wedding was the following Thursday. Then came the question....Where? Fully expecting the same “your clearly out of your mind” response we had received at Disney World, we told them that we were getting married in front of the castle after the park closed. They actually believed us! Turns out one of them had been to a FTW, loved it, and wanted to know everything about ours. That was our first experience with this and I’ll have to admit it was quite fun!

Now, this was not an adventure filled cruise for us. (So if you’re a seasoned cruiser, you’ll probably be rather disappointed in this portion of the recaps.) Plus, it was our first time cruising (It only took the largest ocean liner on the sea to get us off dry land! LOL) and we really didn’t know how the whole process worked. In essence, we didn’t know how to cruise. So, we did what I have always wanted to do on a vacation but never quite had the patients to do . . . REST! Truthfully, we had no choice. I don’t think our bodies would have allowed much more than we did because we were simply exhausted. We basically slept, lounged around in our cabin (don’t offer me 24 hour included room service and expect me not to use it!), watched the water go by on the balcony, and only ventured out for dinner. Oh and there was a Canyon Ranch Spa Club on Board Day turned into night, night turned into day, and before we knew it we were back! As such, this portion of the recaps will be heavy on the photos and very ... very ... light on the commentary.

Departure
Checking In – They took out credit card for our charges while onboard and then issued us each a photo identification card that served as our room key and stateroom charge card. There she is! (Evidently I wasn’t supposed to be taking photos in the darn terminal! So after I took this photo one of the security guards came up to me and told me to stop. He was rather nice about it, but it still ticked me off because there were no signs telling me not to take photos.) Anyway, we board and go through the security check. (We had to show our identification cards each time we entered and left the boat. Considering we didn’t get off in St. Thomas … we used them twice.)

Our Stateroom was located on the other side of the ship, so we were able to see the other boats in port. The Carnival Liberty and the Radiance of the Sea. Both ships left before we did, so we also got to see a good deal of tug boat maneuvering.

So after we got settled in, took lots of photos, and unpacked, they made an announcement telling us about the safety drill. It was very well organized and it was over in no time. We then went back to our room for sail away. (We opted to skip the sail away party on the main deck.) So, we moved the sparkling wine they had delivered while we were away onto the balcony and toasted as we left Ft. Lauderdale. And well …. took photos. We started feeling guilty because we had spent most of our time on board in the cabin, so we decided to explore the ship. So, here’s our photo tour of the Queen Mary 2.

Thanks sooo much for sharing your very special time. I can't wait to read more and see more fabulous pictures from your magical wedding! Congrats and much happiness always!

 

[SleepingBeauty_LA]

it sounds wonderful thanks for sharing!!

 

[cryssi]

Thank you so much for sharing! I just love reading your recaps so far...

I can't believe all the things you guys did yourselves! I thought we did a lot...LOL! I can commiserate with you on that DIY foil stuff (we used it on our favors)...after awhile, I just gave up on trying to get it perfect and as a result, a lot of the lettering was not completely silvered...lol but, when that's what you HAVE to have, well...

Can't wait for more!

p.s. words can't describe those pics you've posted so far...

 

[AuroraBorealis]

Great TR so far! I can't believe you did all of that yourself! It is totally worth it, though, in the end!

Your pictures are beautiful! I love the detailing on the hem of your gown and veil in the GF staircase picture. Did you have a second dress for your Tusker House dinner?

Thanks for sharing. Congratulations again!

 

[justKim]

Sarah, you are so sweet for sharing your pictures here. My daughter is only 4 and already planning her Fairytale wedding. You've really given her something to plan!

 

[PRINCESSAJ]

WOW you really had the complete fairytale wedding!
loved the pictures thanks for sharing it with us

 

[StephSFL]

AMAZING! Thank you for sharing so much of your special event with us! I love the idea of the early honeymoon- looks amazing!

 

[allisonswonderland]

Wonderful Sarah- absolutely magical!!!!

 

[2002Disneybride]

What a beautiful wedding!

Congrats!!!!

 

[DisneyFairy19]

wow.. talk about the absolute fairy tale wedding... you look amazing

 

[luvey]

i went to the website...but all i see are red x's.

 

[lpizzuro123]

The pictures from the first post were removed but if you go to their post on pg 11 there are pictures there plus a link to more pictures.

Linda

 

[luvey]

The pictures from the first post were removed but if you go to their post on pg 11 there are pictures there plus a link to more pictures.

Linda

Thanks Linda. I did that originally. I went to the link on pg 11 and I went to the website. I saw the pictures that were posted within this thread (minus the first post)...but when I went to the website all the pictures were red x's.

 

[lpizzuro123]

I just went there and there is information and pictures in the first four tabs - nothing in the others as I imagine those have not been done yet.

Linda

 

[jojoandhb]

Is this the wedding that was won from a magazine? I read somewhere that the recent night time MK wedding was from a contest. Is this it?