Carly and Kyle's Wedding TR!!! ~ 01/08/09 ~ WP/GF - Wedding Day!!!

[thatdisneygirl]

Day Five – Part One

I woke up at 6:30 in the morning. I don’t mean that I rolled over and fluttered my eyes open and lazily stretched out. I sat up at 6:30, wide-awake, with one single thought in my head: Holy Effin’ Shiznit, I’m getting married tomorrow.

Waking up in a Disney resort hotel room is disorienting because if you have those drapes closed there’s pretty much no way to tell what time it is. I could see a little bit of light coming through, but I couldn’t tell if it was early morning light or late morning light or afternoon light. Since I had startled myself awake, I immediately defaulted to an unshakeable belief that we were late for our day and proceeded to bark at Kyle to wake up before it occurred to me to look at the clock. The poor kid jumped up, took one look at the clock, gave me a look that would have withered flowers, and rolled over.

Any rational person would have felt bad and gone back to sleep in the proper apologetic fashion, but I was running on pure adrenaline and I jumped out of bed and did a couple mini-laps around the room, before deciding that Kyle and I should just get up anyway. I turned on the light and started poking at Kyle, who was in his own bed (we let ourselves have our own queen size beds at Disney) and who had pulled the covers up over his head. I knew he didn’t want to get up, but in my bridal panic I gave getting-things-done priority over his sleep time and assumed that he’d understand later.

When I took the covers off of his head, however, I was started by how he looked. He was totally pale, totally sweaty, and quite obviously deathly ill. In fact, I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen Kyle look so sick. I ran around the room turning off all the lights and then sat on my own bed for a while, watching him sleep with that little wheezy breath that people get when they are sick, and all I could think was “Oh my god, I broke him. I broke Kyle. I stressed him out and made him run around all week and kept him out too late and now I’ve broken him. We’re getting married tomorrow and I’ve probably killed him. He’s going to lay right there and die and we aren’t even at a nice resort.”

The whole not-disturbing-those-who-are-deathly-ill thing really limited the amount of stuff that I could do now that I was up. I knew that the breakfast was being served, but I didn’t want to go without Kyle. I did go down and get him some tea so he could take some medicine, but after that there was nothing to do but let him sleep in the dark, so I gathered up the few notes I had left to write to the bridal party and snuck out to the balcony to write them. Tracy came over after a while and said that Justin was also deathly ill and grabbed some medicine for him. I don’t know where Kyle and his brother were or what they managed to inhale, but it was freaking deadly and they were both severely out of commission. After a while, Kyle did manage to wake up and I went and got us breakfast, but he was in really bad shape. He just stayed in bed, all glassy-eyed, staring at Stacy and her stupid top 7 list run over and over again.

As the clock ticked closer to 11 AM, I started to panic. Our room looked like a bomb had gone off, with clothes and crap everywhere and I didn’t have any of the attendant gifts wrapped for the rehearsal that night. I ended up grabbing Kate, Nate, and Neaner,who were passing by our window and they helped me get everything wrapped, bagged, and labeled. They also let me drag our unneeded luggage into their room, since we’d be coming back to Pop Century for our wedding night, and helped us carry everything downstairs.

Kate saved our sorry butts by having a rental car. Instead of dragging poor sick Kyle onto the bus with all of our luggage, which was the original plan, we were able to load everything into Kate’s car and just drive over to the Grand Floridian. We also were able to stop at Publix on the way, so Kyle could drop $50 on cold remedies. I think we actually bought everything that a person with a cold could ever possibly use, which is lucky since he proceeded to take an entire box of Advil Cold and Sinus. By then, he was doing a lot better than he had been doing that morning, but I could tell he still didn’t feel good. I wasn’t doing too hot myself, but since I was only slightly tired and sniffly (whereas Kyle had the plague) I felt pretty lucky.

By the time we got to the Floridian, it was around 1:00. Check-in is usually around 3, but I was hopeful that we could get in early, especially because the GF is a deluxe resort. Kate and Kyle dealt with the luggage people while I went in to check-in. I totally should have taken Kyle with me, though, because I was wildly intimidated by the whole process. The person I thought was going to check me in actually called someone else to walk me over to some other person who called some other person to come and get me. By the time I actually got to the person I needed to talk to, I was completely weirded out and more than a little tired of being shuffled around.

The man I needed to talk to walked briskly up to me, put his hand to his headset, quietly said “we are go”, and then escorted me back out to the car where Kate and Kyle were waiting. I don’t know who he was talking to, because I didn’t see anyone else who was…going, or whatever…so a little part of me thinks that he was just talking into his headset to intimidate me. Kate left to park the car and Kyle and I were taken up to the third floor to the actual check-in desk, an elevator ride which required a key card. Apparently that was this man’s function…to walk up to me, intimidate me, swipe his card, and drop us off. I don’t know how much he makes, but I think I would be really good at that.

The woman who checked us in was very nice and we were really starting to feel all posh and refined up there in the concierge level check-in, when suddenly one of the bellmen brought up another guest and asked a question about luggage. Apparently the guest was checking out and she needed to ship something but she had waited until the last minute and for whatever reason they wouldn’t be able to ship the thing from the resort. I guess she had to go somewhere else and she was worried about missing her connection? I’m sorry I’m so vague on details, but I wasn’t able to understand much that the guest was saying because about 4 seconds after they walked up behind us she burst into tears, put her face in her hands, and started moaning, “I don’t need this right now! I don’t need this right now!”

That was awkward.

I got the impression that that sort of thing doesn’t happen very often on the concierge level because the woman who was helping us just sort of sat there stunned for a second and then said, “I’m sorry, ma’am, but I will help you as soon as I finish helping these people.” Then she sort of motioned for the bellman to take the guest over to the side, but when he asked her to have a seat, she started wailing louder and fanning herself wildly as though she was afraid she was going to have a total breakdown. They tried to convince her to sit down for a second, but she just stood there and shook her head. I told the check-in woman that we would just wait, but she wasn’t having it and since we hadn’t gotten our key or any information, there wasn’t a lot we could do.

As all of this was going on, the man whose job it is to intimidate people and then bring them upstairs brought another couple up in the elevator. As they stepped out, the man hesitated and I think he thought seriously about taking them back down to the lobby, either because it was pretty noisy up there in concierge or because he’s supposed to space guests out enough that they don’t run into each other. Now here we all were, me and Kyle, the check-in lady and the bellman, the bewildered couple who had just gotten off the elevator, and the man with the headset...all watching this poor woman weep.

There was a horrible moment where I thought that we were just going to wait until the woman cried herself out, but then the man with the headset took the woman’s package from the bellman, instructed the bewildered couple to have a seat, and swept the woman off into the elevator, never to be seen again. The woman helping us rushed through the rest of her shpeal on our stay at the resort, told us that our room wasn’t ready, and then dismissed us. The bellman rode down with us in the elevator and said something about how he would have been happy to help us carry our things to our room but since we didn’t have things (they were at the luggage desk) and we didn’t have a room, he was just going to make sure we got back ok. I had the weird suspicion that he wanted some sort of tip, but since his only function was to bring crying women into our lives and then make sure we didn’t get lost getting on and off of an elevator that only travels three stories, I didn’t try to find some cash.

Honestly, Kyle and I were terrible about tipping at GF because we’re bad about tipping in general. By the time that bellman left us standing in the lobby, we had dealt with seven individual GF employees. I’m sure one of those employees at some point was supposed to get a tip, but since we didn’t know who are when, we didn’t tip anyone. In fact, I think the only person who got tipped the whole time we were there were the people who brought us room service because Kyle and I do have the basic understanding that when someone brings you something to eat, you’re supposed to tip them. Beyond that, we were pretty clueless.

We caught up with Kate downstairs and we all drove over to the Polynesian to hang out a little bit until the room was ready. My bridal tea was scheduled for 3:30, so we were cutting it a little close by not having a room at 1:30. I busied myself with other things and put Kate to work ironing out the pashminas. My mom and I attempted to steam my wedding dress, which still bore signs of having been stuffed into my checked luggage, but there was so much dress (!) that we just didn’t have the time. I started to get more and more antsy as the clock moved closer to 3:00, but luckily we got the call that our room was ready around 2:15 and we headed over.
Kate dropped us off so she could go home and get ready for the tea and we made our way up through the maze of keycard-only elevators to our room on the concierge level.

I know I’m a total brat, but when I first walked into our room I was disappointed. I kept hearing about concierge level this and that and I had seen pictures of other people’s GF rooms, so I was expecting a great big room with plenty of space for people who wanted to hang out. Our room was the same size as our room in Pop Century, though, with the difference being that we had a Jacuzzi tub and a king-sized bed. Since I was expecting a huge suite, I was pretty let down. And then I walked over to the balcony and saw the view. Oh, the view!

Gorgeous. Incredible. Our balcony looked out over the water and right across the way to Cinderella’s castle. It was positively lovely and it totally redeemed the room in my eyes. When I walked back in I started to see all of the little details – the fine furniture with Disney accents, the patterns in the wallpaper, the fresh flowers tucked into carefully folded towels, the GF seal on the folded edge of the toilet paper…What the room lacked in size it made up in personal attention.

Unfortunately, I didn’t have long to enjoy it. We got in to the room at 2:30 and at 3:00 we still didn’t have our luggage. Since I needed to be at the Whitehall Room at 3:30 for the bridal tea, I had a mild panic attack in which I may or may not have unleashed a torrent of unladylike words. Luckily, the luggage showed up around 3:10 and I was able to dash around and get ready. I had planned on curling my hair and doing my nails and putting on jewelry and all sorts of things before the tea, but the day had been so crazy and I was so short on time that I just tossed the dress on, grabbed my hat, fastened my heels and took off for downstairs, leaving Kyle to rest and enjoy the room without me.

 

[disneygal922]

Oh Carly, I love reading your updates! They make my work day so much more pleasant! Sorry to hear Kyle got so ill the day before your wedding. Also, I'm glad you got your room and luggage in time for you to make it to your bridal tea! The view from your room is breathtaking, absolutely gorgeous! Can't wait for the next update! The big day is coming up!!!!!

 

[thatdisneygirl]

Day Five – Part Two

I was really excited about the bridal tea. The whole idea to have a bridal tea started when I saw Vanessa’s bridal tea and was wildly jealous. My mom decided that a bridal tea was the perfect thing for her to host as a wedding event and so she worked with Marion to create a nice little ladies-only party. She also suggested that people dress appropriately for the tea…although appropriate for tea was sort of left open to interpretation…

…as you can see, some of our guests really ran with it! I love that people dressed up and really got into it because it added a whole other element of fun to the party. Mom had gone all out with the decorations and had made beautiful little favors for everyone. She had also gathered quotes and messages from the guests and then put them into a basket for me to keep.

The food spread was to die for. In addition to tea, we had a whole range of finger sandwiches and crudités and desserts and so on. I was actually ravenous when I got down there so after quickly saying hello to everyone, I pounced on the food. It might be slightly tacky for a bride to go to town on a buffet the day before her wedding, but I was so over my diet that it was time to party.

It was really nice and relaxing to hang out in this space with all of these ladies and just be generally happy about the wedding happening the next day. There were some people there that I hadn’t seen in years and years and a couple of people that I hadn’t met before, so I was happy that I had time to chat with them at the tea instead of trying to fit everyone in to the reception. I did sort of feel like I didn’t spend quite enough time talking to anyone, which is a feeling that would continue throughout the rest of the trip, but I tried really hard to cover my bases.

As the tea started to wind down, mom and I noticed that there was a ton of food left. As it turned out, there was a miscommunication about who needed to tell who how many people were going to the tea and they had set out enough food (and charged us) for seven or eight extra guests. It seemed such a shame to waste it all, so mom and I decided to ask if we could take any back with us.

Marion actually wasn’t available during the tea because she was doing another wedding, but she had left us in the hands of one of the GF servers, so my mom walked up to him and, in the most refined voice possible, inquired about doggy bags. There was something so ridiculous about asking for a takeout container in such a nice place that as soon as he left to “look into it”, my mom and I dissolved into a total giggle fit and almost didn’t recover. Needless to say, he did not bring us doggy bags. He did let us bring in some extra people, however, so all of the guys who were out in the hallway waiting for the rehearsal to start were able to come in and polish off the rest of the food.

While everyone was finishing up, I went out into the hall to meet Theresa, our officiant’s wife. She was nice enough and waited patiently for us to herd everyone from one room to the other for the rehearsal, but the whole thing ended up being pretty weird. I will say, it wasn’t all Theresa’s fault. There were three independent things which contributed to the weirdness of our rehearsal:

• our officiant wasn’t there,
• our wedding coordinator wasn’t there, and
• we weren’t in the place where the ceremony would actually happen.

All of these things were things that made no sense to me. After all, it’s not like we didn’t all understand the general gist of what was going to happen. Parents go down the aisle, Kyle and his men go down the aisle, my attendants go down the aisle, flower girl goes down the aisle, father + bride go down the aisle, we get married, everyone leaves in the reverse order of how they came in. And we’re done.

So, I’m not totally sure what the rehearsal was for. I suppose it was helpful to have everyone line up so they knew what order they were going down the aisle in, but honestly it complicated it to have the non-coordinator and non-officiant there because they were giving everyone the wrong directions. We wanted to have them seated, but they stood them up. We wanted them to go down one by one, they had them walk together. We knew who was there, they were calling out names from lists that had been abandoned in February. It was just chaotic.

And then the Theresa factor kind of kicked in. She was nice enough, but she was sort of sharp and she kept snapping at people and then raising her eyebrows at us like she was saying, “boy, all of these people are out of control. You’re damn lucky I’m raining them in.” I wanted to flick her on the nose and tell her to stop yelling at our friends, but instead we just tried to get the whole thing over with. As it turned out, she didn’t have the vows we had written and sent in and then she actually argued with Kyle about whether or not things should be included. Hi, is it your ceremony? Are you even going to be there? No? Then shut up.

We also hadn’t practiced the kiss, which was fine by us, but she made us do it a couple of times as though we were idiots who didn’t understand the process instead of two annoyed customers who were hardcore fed up with her little snide remarks. All in all, the whole thing was kind of a wash. The people running the show couldn’t remember anything we told them for more than 3 minutes and it didn’t really matter to them because they weren’t even going to be at the wedding. I sort of felt bad for pulling people out of the parks to come to it, actually, because it was not that necessary. We were able to give everyone their gifts and ties and pashminas, though, so that sort of redeemed the moment.

I had been worried that people would be upset about the fact that there was no rehearsal dinner, but nobody seemed to think twice about it. I think everyone was ready to do their own thing anyway, so most of Kyle’s friends dispersed quickly. My friends hadn’t seen our hotel room, so we all went upstairs and hung out for a little bit.

I love my friends. I knew that they were all going out and from the looks of the pictures they must have had a good time, but there was no way I could go with them. It was 7PM and it was the night before the wedding. My dress wasn’t steamed or bustled. The centerpieces were sitting around in various boxes and shopping bags. I hadn’t even started thinking about place cards. My nails weren’t done, my hair wasn’t washed, I hadn’t talked to any of the vendors, and my fiancé was downing more cold medication than is probably legal in the continental United States. Yeah, I wasn’t going anywhere…

 

[padisneyfour]

Your bridal tea looks like it was fun! Cute pictures!

 

[thatdisneygirl]

Day Five - Part Three

After my friends all took off to go to Raglan Road, I sat on the balcony of our beautiful hotel room and started to feel sorry for myself. It wasn’t a full-blown-woe-is-me type of sorry, just a gee-this-isn’t-how-I-pictured-this sorry. I felt bad for Kyle because he was sick and I knew he’d probably be sick for the wedding. This was the one night we’d have in this $1000+ hotel room and we was going to be sick for it. I also felt bad about not going with my friends because I don’t get to see most of them very often and they had flown all the way down here to celebrate with me, only to be kicked out because I hadn’t finished all the wedding stuff. And, of course, I felt sorry for myself because I wanted to fill up the tub, order room service, and enjoy the luxury of our accommodations, but I had wedding chores that I couldn’t get out of. So I sat for a little bit and just let myself be kind of blue.

Kyle was supposed to be laying down during all of this, but after a while he came out. I gave him a hard time about being on the balcony, since I’m sure it didn’t help his cold, but he stayed out with me for a while and chilled out. He asked me if I needed help with anything and I told him not to worry about it. Then he asked me if I wanted my mom to come over. To be honest, I totally did. I wanted both of our moms and I wanted them in our room fixing everything and I wanted them now. But, on the eve of your wedding, you’re not supposed to want mom to fix it all. Plus, my mom was headed down to Downtown Disney for the first time and I didn’t want to rain on her fun. So, I said no, that I was just fine. And then Kyle told me that I was a terrible liar and that he had already talked to my mom and that she was on her way over. And that’s why he’s my favorite human.

I felt a lot better after mom got there. I don’t mind being sulky and stressed out around my mom because she’s seen it all, so I complained about bustling the dress and about not wanting to steam it and about feeling like I was way too fat to be wearing something strapless. She said all the mom things about how I looked fine and it was all in my head and nobody would notice that it wasn’t steamed and bustling it would only take a minute. Then we ordered a really nice dinner from room service and watched the fireworks from the balcony while I walked around in my dress and tried to feel like a real bride.

As a side note, I read a ton of articles that talk about what you’re supposed to eat before your wedding. You’re supposed to stay away from fats (obviously), salts, things with a lot of fiber, sugars, and meat. You’re also supposed to drink a lot of ice water and eat very small meals every hour or so. For the record, I read all of these articles and cut them out and kept them and memorized them. And on the eve of my wedding, I sat in my hotel room in my wedding dress with my mom and my fiancé and I ate penne pasta with grilled shrimp that was completely doused in the richest alfredo sauce and topped with a cup of shredded asiago cheese. And it rocked my world.

It took longer than a minute to bustle the dress. Mom worked on it for an hour while I called vendors and organized payments and did lots of last minute things. Kyle snuck out a couple of times to the concierge lounge and brought us back things like sparkling water and chocolate covered strawberries.

It wasn’t as exciting as being out at Raglan Road, but it was really, really nice. In fact, I think it’s my favorite time that I’ve ever spent with my mom because it was just so calm and happy and quietly exciting.

After mom left around midnight, we stayed up for a little bit and just hung out. Kyle was doped up on a lot of cold medicine and he was singing me Disney songs while I plucked my eyebrows and did all the other things that girls have to do when they’re being photographed 5000 times the next day. Then we turned off all the lights and sat up in bed for a little while, watching the colors change on Cinderella’s castle. I know most people don’t spend the night before their wedding together, since it’s traditional for the bride and groom not to see each other before the ceremony, but it was really nice to have a little spot of quiet where we could look forward to the next day without having anything left to stress about. If we had to do it again, I wouldn’t change a single thing about that night…

 

[Petals & Pixie Dust]

I so look forward to your installments...You have a great writing style and tell a story so well! Keep them coming!

 

[KSchwagg86]

I'm loving this...so Kyle saw you in your dress before, am I correct in assuming that?

 

[tiggersam00]

I am a little weepy right now... thats a great pre-wedding night if you ask me (minus Kyle being sick) but it sounds like you were very peacful and relaxed. Cant wait for the next update

 

[polynesianbride]

Oh Carly I am just loving your TR. I am so sorry that Kyle got sick, but it sounds like he was a real trooper through it all. Soooo sweet that he knew you needed your mom there and I love that you ate alfredo pasta with shrimp (one of my favorite dishes) in your wedding dress with your mom and kyle the night before your wedding! I sounds just perfect! Can't wait for more!

 

[SueM in MN]

So sorry to hear about the illness around your wedding.
A wedding is stressful enough without worrying about not feeling well.
The pictures so far are beautiful (I love the one in your wedding dress looking out the balcony). If it was me eating in my wedding dress, the next sentence would probably have been..."and then I spilled my dinner plate all over the front of my dress."

I sent Kyle with all the tickets to get fastpasses for Expedition Everest and the rest of us made a beeline for Kilimanjaro Safaris. My grandma had been wanting to ride that ride more than any other, so everyone was pretty excited. Even at our slow pace we made it to the Safari before Kyle came back. Honestly, I probably shouldn’t have had him run back to Asia, but I was still thinking that we were doing all right. He made it back to us, fastpasses in hand, and we made our way up the line to the Safari. Apparently if you’re in a wheelchair you don’t really have to wait because there’s a whole other car just for special needs vehicles so we walked right on.

There is a wheelchair accessible ride tram.
People with wheelchairs wait in the regular line until just after the stroller drop off area. Just after that, people using wheelchairs or ECVs are sent to a different boarding area. The trams that stop at that boarding area come back to the same place for unloading, so wheelchairs and ECVs left there at boarding will be waiting for the guests to get them when the ride ends. That area is also set up with a permanent ramp for loading wheelchairs (only one wheelchair per ride tram).
Using a wheelchair doesn't mean no wait though; people have waited in the regular line until that point. After the line splits off, the wait depends on how many people are waiting at the accessible spot and how many trams are running. We have already waited at the accessible boarding spot for 40 minutes, when people were just walking on to the regular trams, pretty much as fast as they could walk. Trams were even being sent out partially filled because people were not coming fast enough.
People were basically asking if they could go back in line to leave their wheelchairs in the stroller parking area because they had waited so long.

Once everyone else had ridden Everest again, we met up with my family for the Festival of the Lion King, which is probably my favorite thing at Animal Kingdom. Again, all of the wheelchairs came in handy as we were the first group in and the first group seated.

At Festival of the Lionn King, they seat people in wheelchairs first because there are a limited number wheelchair spots. If they did not seat the wheelchair parties first, other people would take those spots and there would be no room for the wheelchairs.
Because there are limited numbers of wheelchair spots, the CMs need to separate out the wheelchairs before the show they can keep a count and not bring more wheelchair into the waiting area than there is space for inside the building. We have come to that show and not been able to go in because all the wheelchair spots were already taken.

 

[thatdisneygirl]

Finally back from our CA trip and ready to start in on the wedding day!

I'm loving this...so Kyle saw you in your dress before, am I correct in assuming that?

Yep, he had actually seen me in it from day one. He was the one that helped me when I was doing all of my fittings. Not traditional, but there's no way I would have been able to hide it in our tiny apartment anyway...

 

[thatdisneygirl]

Wedding Day – Part One

Some days are just good.

We slept so well in that GF king sized bed that I could have just slept and slept and slept. But, at around 6:30, I realized that it was my wedding day. And *BAM* I was up. We had ordered room service for 7 AM, so I got out of bed and brushed my teeth and threw on my Bride hoodie and started getting all jazzed up for the day. I threw open the curtains and took in the most beautiful view.

The lake had mist over it, so all I could see was Cinderella’s castle coming up out of the clouds. Not a bad way to wake up, eh? Room service came and delivered eggs benedict, corned beef hash, a fruit plate, and a grapefruit. I steeped some tea and set our little coffee table and stuck Ratatouille in the DVD player and got all ready to have a happy little breakfast party with Kyle.

But Kyle didn’t want to play.

I had to draaaaaag the boy out of bed and then when I did he was still mopey, with no reaction to the view or the food or anything. I knew he didn’t feel good, so I didn’t give him a hard time, but it was weird to be so euphoric when he was being so flatline. Like I said, Kyle is usually the trooper, so I don’t have a lot of experience bucking him up. I tried to cheer him up a little, but after a bit I decided it would be easier to just let him be a lump and I devoured my breakfast and got ready for everyone to show up.

Mom showed up soon after breakfast was delivered and we rushed around the room trying to get everything together. In addition to gathering the wedding stuff, we knew that we needed to get everything ready for the bellmen, since we were checking out at eleven.

Our room was a mess and the stuff I needed for the wedding was all mixed in with things that I didn’t need, so it was very chaotic. Kyle was still sitting around being a lump and I started to get a little irritated. I know that sounds terrible since he was pretty sick, but I couldn’t get him to help us with anything and we were running out of time before the hair stylist arrived. I finally paused the DVD and demanded that he put his stuff into his suitcase...a demand that promptly bit me in the butt when he reached into his suitcase and sliced his finger open on his razor.

His ring finger. On his left hand.

Granted, it was an impressive slice and it was bleeding like there was no tomorrow…but honestly to hear Kyle go on about it, you would have thought that he had cut his finger off. He ran it under water and then looked at it and ran it under water and walked around clutching it and then asked me if I thought he needed stitches. I bit my tongue since I felt bad about making him slice open his finger when he already didn’t feel good, but I swear to God nobody in the world has ever been such a hypochondriac. We finally got him Neosporin-ed and bandaged up right before Anna called to tell us that she was waiting for us in the lobby. Kyle was supposed to go and get her, so I offered to go with him. He and I needed to have a chat.

On the way down to the lobby, I vented. I told him that he was killing my mood and wasn’t being helpful and that he either needed to suck it up or go away because he was making me cranky. Isn’t that just the sweetest thing you’ve ever heard anyone say on their wedding day? Honestly, with him sulking about his bandaged finger and me pouting about him not being cheerful enough, we were the perfect picture of a couple of kindergartners who needed a time out. By the time we got down there I’d apologized for pushing him to get all of his stuff together and he’d apologized for being cranky because he was tired and we were both over it, but it just goes to show that even the most perfect of days isn’t without its potholes.

We met Anna in the lobby and took her up to our room. The last time I’d had a run through with Anna I had been struck by how warm and friendly she is. To be honest, that’s not completely a compliment. It’s not really a bad thing either, it’s just…something you notice. Anna is warm and friendly in that way that hairdressers get sometimes when they don’t know you at all. She has lots of pet names for everyone and she says things like, “oh, that’s so you, baby doll” and “you’re lucky I love you so much”. I think that sort of stuff really works for some people…just, not for me. My favorite hairdresser in the world never said anything to me besides “What are we doing?” and “Ok, you’re done. You can pay up front.”

So we got Anna upstairs and got everything pushed off to one side and I sat down so that she could work on me. Kyle started getting into his tux and calling his groomsmen. He was actually a lot more cheerful when we went back up and whether he actually felt better or was just putting on to make me happy, I’ll never know, but either way it was really nice to see him joking and laughing. I dispatched Mom to fill out the place cards, which still hadn’t been done. I know, worst bride in the world. I had a general idea that I was just going to fold squares of cardstock, punch them with a Mickey hole punch, and write people’s names and table info on them, so I let mom do it. I think they turned out ok. They’re only place cards, after all.

After a while, Anna announced that my hair was finished and I could go look at it. My first clue that things were not well was that Mom looked at me and kind of cocked her head to side like "huh...that's...interesting..." It was actually good that I caught her expression because it prepared me for what I saw when I looked in the mirror. If I hadn't been prepared I might have...I don't know...I don't think I would have shrieked, but I probably would have yelped a little.

My hair was HUGE. Like HUGE HUGE HUGE. Priscilla-Presley-enters-a-children's-beauty-pageant HUGE. It was supposed to be pulled back and hanging down, but the pulled back part was literally about six inches tall and she had used little tiny curlers to turn my hair into the biggest pile of ringlets I've ever seen. I had been growing my hair out for the wedding for at least two years, so I had an unreasonable amount of hair anyway. The combination of lots of hair with lots of curling resulted in a virtual pyramid of curls that started six inches above my head and then fanned out to a foot-wide blanket of solid ringlets. It was shocking.

I was not happy.

I wanted to be polite, though, which is hard when you're really stressed and not happy, so I bit my lip and said something about how it wasn't exactly how I pictured it. I explained that it was a little too big and she pointed out that the weight of everything would pull it down after a while, which was all fine and good except that the Roots were supposed to be showing up at any minute. I finally got her to comb out the top of it and put a part down the middle, which she was very opposed to but which made a big difference.

In the end, I started to feel better about it, but ultimately it wasn't what I wanted. Anna is a sweetheart, but I really should have followed my gut in August and gone with someone else.

Anna started in on my mom's hair and I got on the phone. None of my attendants had shown up and I was desperate to see them, especially Jed who has a knack for calming me down. He doesn't exactly say the right things, but he's really good at acting like a conduit for all of my stress so that it isn't building up or being directed at other people. I had told Kyle that I needed to see Jed and was trying to get a hold of everyone else, when I got a call that Kate, Michelle, Margi, and Neaner had arrived and were walking into the lobby. I love my girls!!! My happiness level went up at least 30% and I bounded out the door to collect my ladies...

 

[KSchwagg86]

I know your hair isn't what you wanted, but it ended up looking beautiful!

 

[Petals & Pixie Dust]

I take a study break for your journal posts!
I know what you mean about that hair stylist thing...I like it better when they don't talk! The view was beautiful!
Loved the placecards...I might have to steal that idea! Love it!

 

[princess22]

I love your TR so far! I just spend the last 40 minutes reading it all! Your pics are gorgeous. Can't wait to read more!

 

[Pinkerbell1983]

I know your hair isn't what you wanted, but it ended up looking beautiful!

I agree, but still wish you could have got what you wanted. I'm not having a hair trial and this is what I'm worried about too. Love that view by the way!

 

[malibustacey]

Same - i wear make up every day- i always have, i have pretty bad skin that i have to cover up (i wish i didnt have to, but it makes me more confident), so i am scared of someone else doing my make up!

And my hair.. i hate having to tell someone they have done something wrong, and i wouldnt be able to face the hair stylist if she didnt do it right- i'd probably just nod and run and cry somewhere!!

I think your hair looked lovely toooo- you looked beautiful! That view of MK in the mist is amazing. More piccyssss!!!!!

 

[thatdisneygirl]

Wedding Day – Part Two

I went down to the lobby of the Grand Floridian with my veil and my Bride hoodie and my super-curly hair, fully realizing that I was one of those spectacles that people point out on their vacation. The man I rode down with in the elevator congratulated me, asked if it was my first marriage, and then told me that he had been married four times and each time he had a big wedding, only to regret it later. Thanks for sharing, dude. That information is just the kind of thing you want to hear on the morning of your wedding.

My girls were waiting by the main doors so I went in for a round of hugs and then swept them upstairs through all of our keycard-only, super-complicated elevators. They were all business, with makeup bags and hair tools in hand, ready to get to work. Unfortunately for them, I had to put them to work almost immediately. Marion had called up to the room to let us know that the reception area was open and ready to be decorated, which gave us just about an hour before we were supposed to be taking pictures down in the lobby. We have a funny video of me giving the bridesmaids a VERY detailed description of exactly what needed to happen on the tables. I would post it, but it makes me look like a super bridezilla. I actually wasn’t too worried, to be fair. I’m mainly friends with people who are very good at that sort of thing.

The girls called a bellman and took the decorations down to the ballrooms while Anna started in on my makeup. I was a little nervous about the makeup application since the hair thing hadn’t gone very well, but she did a really nice job.

The only thing that I wasn’t completely keen on was actually my own fault. When I did the trial in August, I told her that I wanted a sheer, pink, shimmery lipstick that was halfway between “girly” and “natural”. To her credit, she brought me exactly that and gave me a little tube of it to take home. I liked it, but then when I was a Weddingbee for about a minute last summer, they posted the pics from the trial and people totally nixed the lipstick color. One memorable comment implored me not to try to pull off the “Lindsay Lohan lips”. Needless to say, I’ve shied away from both pink and shiny ever since.

So, Neaner and I went shopping for wedding day lipstick a couple of months ago. We went to Sephora, which might have been a mistake because I was immediately overwhelmed, and I panicked until I found two colors. One was a color that was only slightly darker than my natural lip color and the other was a deep purple that was pretty striking when I put it on. I don’t wear striking lipstick ever, but Neaner was a huge fan so I bought them both. I took them both to Florida and when I tried them on for people the unanimous vote went to the darker one. So, that’s what I wore. I suppose it looked ok, but in all the photos that were taken before it wore off, I think I look a little garish. I probably just should have gone with the natural one.

As Anna was finishing up my makeup, the Roots showed up. It was nice that we were able to spend some time with them in August because seeing them on the wedding day was like seeing old friends. After the meet and greet they slipped into the background and took a lot of amazing shots of the room without getting in the way or bothering us at all.

Anna left (awkward I-love-you-girl goodbye hug) and the boys arrived (the boys being two of Kyle’s groomsmen and my three guys). I escaped with Jed to the balcony for a second so that he could siphon off some of the stress-energy and then I showed Nate how to send pictures to the blog via my cell phone. He took his role very seriously, which I thoroughly appreciated because there was no way I was going to be able to do it. I just wish he had been with me in Napa last weekend to photo blog that one!

The girls came back and ran around finishing their makeup. We were supposed to be in the lobby to take pictures around ten or ten thirty, so as the clock ticked closer to our eleven o’clock check out time, I got more and more anxious and there was something of a mad scramble to get all of our bags together and get them out the door (which unfortunately resulted in the misplacement of EVERYTHING…more on that later…) and we didn’t head out of the room until around 10:50.

Everyone really wanted me to be calm and happy and not have to do anything, but hands-off isn’t really my style, so I was pretty much ordering people around and being incredibly bossy. I apologized to my attendants later for being such a wedding dictator, but everyone seemed to take it in stride. I guess that’s the one day that you get a free pass to be really annoying and not have people hold it against you later. As we walked down to the lobby (with me leading the way, of course) it really started to sink in that my wedding prep time was over. Everything that hadn’t been finished – manicure, favors, gifts, emergency playlist, embroidered commemorative handkerchiefs – was never, ever going to happen. Our wedding had reached the come-as-you-are stage and whether we liked it or not, this was as good as it was going to get.

I admit that as I walked up to the large group of friends and family waiting for us in the lobby, and all of their happy faces turned to see the bride and groom, I sent up a short prayer. I try not to pray about things unless I really feel like they are serious matters, just in case I’m stealing time from people in war-ravaged nations, etc., but on my wedding day I just couldn’t help but think “Please, God, let us have a beautiful wedding where everyone is happy, everyone is healthy, and I don’t pop the seams on this stupid, giant dress. Amen.”

 

[thatdisneygirl]

Wedding Day – Part Three

It was weird, meeting everyone down in the lobby. I was coming off of an energy high, created by two solid hours of bossing people around and trying to get things done. The people in the lobby were coming off of waiting for the rest of us for thirty minutes, which meant a lot of sitting around and doing nothing. Adding into the general uneasiness of being formally dressed with nothing to do was the fact that a lot of the people waiting didn’t know each other since our two sides of the family hadn’t really had a chance to meet. So the group we walked into was pretty quiet and excited about the day in that shy way that middle school students are excited when they stand around in huddled groups during friday afternoon dances.

There were so many people to see that I didn’t know where to start. I hadn’t seen Kyle’s mom at all but I didn’t have any time to visit with her because I was worried about my dad. Dad gets nervous about life in general and he isn’t a huge fan of things that involve lots of social interaction. He also gets nervous about unfamiliar situations in which he’s in the spotlight, so the Father of the Bride role wasn’t sitting well with him. He seemed happy enough, waiting downstairs with his girlfriend, Chris, but he definitely had that tense smile that signals an undercurrent of unbelievable panic.

While I was saying hi to Dad, one of Marion’s assistants introduced herself. I hadn’t realized that Marion wouldn’t actually be in the lobby, but it wasn’t the end of the world. The only reason her absence was a problem was that the assistant who met us in the lobby was soooo unpleasant. She faced the wedding party with the same grim determination that is needed to face a really difficult and taxing situation. It’s funny, because I would absolutely love to join Disney’s team of wedding people and apparently this woman hates her job. She couldn’t even get the introduction out without showcasing her general irritation. What she said was, “Hello, I’m _____ and I’ll be helping with your photos” but it was said in the same tone a person would use when saying “I’ve been waiting in line for two hours at the DMV and they just told me that it will be another four.”

Ignoring Ms. Unpleasant, we got started in on the photos. We wanted a bunch of posed group pictures, so I tried to wrangle everyone together over by the grand staircase. The Roots don’t specialize in that kind of wedding photography. If you look at their portfolio, you really don’t see a whole lot of standard-issue group photos. They did a really nice job, but in the end I have to admit that the group photos aren’t my favorite of the day. There’s just no way to not look stiff and vaguely uncomfortable when you’re standing there like a Disney Park Character and different groups are gathering around you for their keepsake snapshot.

I have to take a sidestep here and just mention our flower girl, who was so incredibly good all day. Kaitlyn approached her role in the wedding with all the seriousness of Chief Justice Roberts swearing in the new President of the United States. During the rehearsal she asked very good questions and was completely focused and on the wedding day she kept her attention on what was going on and was right by my side to hold the bouquet, snap a picture, or trail along with Kyle and I. For a six year old in a fancy dress with an important role at a Disney wedding, I think she did remarkably well.

After we did posed shots with the family, we went outside for individual shots with each of our bridal attendants. Originally I thought we were going to do these after the ceremony, but we flew through taking those family pictures. I don’t know if it was the Roots, or our families, or the fact that I was still barking orders at everyone, but we had those portraits done in about twenty minutes. We flew through the individual portraits with the bridal attendants at the same speed. It was still a little uncomfortable because it was just us standing there while the person next to us was swapped out, but the fact that these were our best friends made the process a little bit more relaxed and silly.

While Kyle was doing pictures with his groomsmen, Jensey stole me away and took a couple of bridal portraits on the porch of the Floridian.

We actually hadn’t considered doing any separate pictures of just me or just Kyle, which I actually sort of regret now because I loved the ones that Jensey took of me and I would have liked some portraits of Kyle’s cute face by himself. Jensey made me look awesome (and thin!) although looking at a couple of the photos makes me giggle because behind the scenes I’m crouching on the porch of the hotel so that Jensey (who is at least a half foot shorter than I am) can get the shots.

After Kyle finished up with his groomsmen, we “released” everyone to go hang out for the next half hour before it was time to go to the chapel, since the chapel didn’t open until it was nearly time for the wedding. I felt bad that there was a space of time in which our families and attendants weren’t really doing anything, but there are worse places to kill a half hour than at the Grand Floridian. Plus, it was hard to feel too bad because Kyle and I now had plenty of time to sneak off with Nathan and Jensey (and Jed, official-wedding-dress-train-carrier-extraordinaire) to take some sweet wedding portraits…

 

[thatdisneygirl]

Wedding Day – Part Four

There are perks to being a Disney weddings groupie. One is that you get insider information. Another is that you get to share stories with other people who are in your same bridal boat. But one of the coolest is that you can walk around and recognize spots at WDW that played a significant role in someone else’s engagement or wedding day photos.

For me, one such spot is the fountain at the Grand Floridian. Because I internet stalk the Roots and their clients, I had seen many couples take beautiful pictures at this fountain, but I had never actually see the fountain. In my head, I couldn’t even place where the fountain was. So, when the first stop on our photographic tour of GF was the fountain, I was pretty thrilled. It was funny because when we got there, Jensey actually sort of apologized for the fact that we were taking pictures there, saying “I know we use this spot all the time, but I just love it.” Um, yeah, me too!!!

After we got a ton of pictures at the fountain, we made our way over to the beach. I had actually never walked on the beach at the GF and I have to report back on two things. One is that the beach isn’t the cleanest and is in fact pock marked with lots of piles of bird droppings. The second is that the beach is not that large and doesn’t have the greatest backgrounds. I was thinking that you could see the castle and all that, but you really can’t see much of anything from the beach. It’s too low and there’s that island behind it that isn’t particularly attractive. Adding into all this is the fact that we were on the beach right before noon, so it was really bright and the sun was pretty much overhead.

Therefore, when we got out there, I thought the beach photos were already a wash. Well, you know how I thought the engagement pics were a wash because we were all hot and sweaty and it was too crowded? The Roots worked their magic again!

After the beach, we headed over to the wedding chapel. It was sort of funny, because I could tell people didn’t know where to look when we were approaching. I guess it’s unusual for the bride to be wandering around with the guests before the wedding, since I’m supposed to be unveiled or whatever, but we just sauntered up and started chatting with everyone. We did get over to the dock to take a couple of pictures and managed to hit the “picture spot” behind the chapel, but those pictures aren’t my favorite. I think the fact that people were watching us take them kind of killed the sweetness that I feel from the other photos.

Random funny story: when we walked over from the dock to the picture spot, we were momentarily distracted by the fact that there were tons of little lizards running all through the big archway of a bush, making the whole thing shake and rustle. It was cool but it was also a little bit icky as I stood there and thought about those tiny lizards jumping out or falling down on us from above. When we got ourselves into position and turned around, Jensey and Nathan were nowhere to be found…or so we thought. We suddenly realized that they had each crept into the bushes on the sides of the walkway and were crouched down, shooting us from the shrubbery, while some of our wedding guests milled around and looked down at them from the sidewalk. I cannot for the life of me tell you how funny that was during that moment, but I was trying so hard not to laugh because I didn’t want to ruin the pictures. So all of those pictures with us in the picture spot just make me think about how I was standing there with my hand on my hip, pressing my tongue against the back of my teeth so that I wouldn’t burst out laughing.

I realize at this point, that I haven’t even mentioned our videographer. Oh yes, we had a videographer and his name was George and he was from Apex Media. This archway of greenery is not the first time that we saw George. No, George was waiting in the lobby when we walked down from our room and he was with us through family pictures and bridal attendant pictures and everything. So how come I never mentioned George before now? Well, it’s because George was completely unobtrusive. After quickly introducing himself, George slipped into the background and just filmed quietly. He didn’t get in anyone’s way, he didn’t ask anyone for a quick soundbite, he didn’t interfere by asking us to do anything special. He just slipped into the background…which was very awesome.

The reason George comes to mind now is that he actually filmed us while the Roots were taking our pictures, so I can prove to you that the Roots made us look a lot better than we actually looked. I apparently make a lot of faces and look peeved a lot of the time and laugh way too much and way too loudly. However, if you were to judge me simply on the photography, you would think that I was quite serious and demure and under control. Ha ha, fooled you!

Link to the video clip of us working with the Roots: http://vimeo.com/3281862