Danielle & Chris: 11-11-11 WP/ADH/DP Wedding PJ/TR - Complete *(1 Year Anniversary)

[elleinad16]

11/11/2011
Details and Bridal Party Entrance

We walked inside where Carol met us with drinks and fruit plate in hand. She suggested we refuel a little before everyone bombarded us. While we snacked, DJ Steve came over and introduced himself. He explained how the flow of the night was going to go and if we needed anything, just to make a request. DJ Steve said our cocktail hour was a success and that everyone enjoyed the music. (I had requested a combination of Big Band, Swing, and Disney Jazz to set the mood.)

A picture of our cocktail hour - taken by a guest

And an ariel view of the dance floor and tables

Then some family members decided to trickle down, wish us well, and snap some pictures. I'm pretty sure Carol could sense we just wanted 5 minutes of peace and quiet, so she came up and suggested we go look at our centerpieces and wedding cake!

Detail of our large flower centerpiece

The name cards I made and placed on our photo-stand favors

Bows on the back of the chiavari chairs

Our cake!!!

I have to say that Elizabeth from floral and also the bakery team nailed our vision. The flowers and other decor were beautiful and Chris' cake design was magically brought to life. (It really looks exactly like the sketch!) Atlantic Dance Hall was transformed into a swanky night-club, but never felt too overdone. It was just a really comfortable and fun space, which is exactly what we wanted!

Our guests were guided back downstairs to their respective seats, while the bridal party snuck upstairs and lined up for their entrances. Each couple decided, about 2 seconds before they were announced, that they were going to do a dance when they walked down. (Which I didn't know until I got our professional pictures back, haha!) The song, "Sing, Sing, Sing" started to play and each couple descended as their names were called.

My daddy escorting my mommy

Chris' parents

Bridesmaid Michelle escorted by groomsman Mike

Bridesmaid Katherine escorted by groomsman Kevin

Bridesmaid Jackie escorted by groomsman Grant

Bridesmaid Erin escorted by groomsman Blane

Bridesmaid Chelsea escorted by groomsman Paul

Maid of honor Melanie escorted by best man Brendan

Maid of honor Kaitlin escorted by best man Cory

It was finally just the two of us left at the top of the staircase. We walked up to the edge and DJ Steve announced us as, "The bride and groom…Christopher and Danielle Thibodeau"! All of our guests rose from their chairs and the room filled with applause and cheers. We walked down the staircase and onto the dance floor and immediately transitioned into our first dance.

To be continued…

 

[elleinad16]

11/11/2011
First Dance

In the weeks leading up to the wedding, Chris and I practiced some spins and dips to help alleviate the awkward first dance feeling. We danced to, "So This Is Love" from Cinderella to keep it short and simple (and at 1:25 in length, that was perfect)!

I laughed the whole time and before we knew it, our first dance was over lickety-split!

To be continued...

 

[belle2211]

Our guests were guided back downstairs to their respective seats, while the bridal party snuck upstairs and lined up for their entrances. Each couple decided, about 2 seconds before they were announced, that they were going to do a dance when they walked down. (Which I didn't know until I got our professional pictures back, haha!)

My bridal party did the same thing! And I had no clue until I got the pictures back and asked my maid of honor what was going on in the pics!

 

[sw33t_angel]

Oh Danielle... I love everything!!! I can't get enough!!!!

You and Chris are just so adorable I LOVE IT!

 

[LuvLuvLuv]

BEAUTIFUL!!

I'm loving every minute!! ADH looked great!!

 

[librarygeek]

The pictures look great! Everything is just beautiful. I really love the cake, it came out fantastic!

 

[CourtenayB]

This makes me happy! Every aspect is just perfect.

 

[DoomBuggy0922]

-ADH is so crazy beautiful on the inside.
-I love chiavari chairs. In case you were curious.
-I love how most of your BP danced during their entrance. So cute!
-You look so happy during your first dance. And beautiful. (Chris looks spiffy too!)

 

[virtuous girl]

U R just one beautiful bride! U r glowing in EVERY pic i've seen so far Everything went so nicely 4 u

 

[elleinad16]

My bridal party did the same thing! And I had no clue until I got the pictures back and asked my maid of honor what was going on in the pics!

Haha, that's so funny! I can't wait to photobomb my friends' weddings.

Oh Danielle... I love everything!!! I can't get enough!!!!

You and Chris are just so adorable I LOVE IT!

Awww, thanks Twinny!!! I'm gonna try and write up a little more soon!

BEAUTIFUL!!

I'm loving every minute!! ADH looked great!!

Thanks, Deena!

The pictures look great! Everything is just beautiful. I really love the cake, it came out fantastic!

Thanks, Becky--I will be sure to tell Chris you liked his cake design. He will be so thrilled.

This makes me happy! Every aspect is just perfect.

Thank you so much! You are so sweet.

-ADH is so crazy beautiful on the inside.
-I love chiavari chairs. In case you were curious.
-I love how most of your BP danced during their entrance. So cute!
-You look so happy during your first dance. And beautiful. (Chris looks spiffy too!)

I love the chiavari chairs too. I was talking to my sister-in-law the other day saying how much I loved having them at the wedding and she was like, "but those are standard wedding chairs...they are everywhere..." and I was like, "NO. Disney has you pay extra... " She just didn't understand.
Thank you, thank you, my dear!

U R just one beautiful bride! U r glowing in EVERY pic i've seen so far Everything went so nicely 4 u

Thank you so much!!! I couldn't have asked for anything better.

 

[elleinad16]

11/11/2011
Dinner, Toasts & Bridal Party Dance

After our first dance, a cast member came over and escorted us to the buffet. We went down the line, telling them what we would like, and they made up a plate for us. (What wonderful service!) I was so excited for dinner--the food was the second most important thing to me. I'm pretty sure I opted to try everything…and everything I did have was absolutely delicious! Sadly, I don't have any pictures of the food, because our photographers went to eat their meals, but here's Chris near our buffet.:

As the rest of the bridal party went up to the buffet line, "Be Our Guest" started playing right on cue. It was definitely the best song to set the mood for dinner. Throughout the rest of dinner, Disney love songs played and it was so fun listening to our guests sing-a-long or name the movie that the song was from. Chris and I ate very slowly, making sure we savored every bite of our meal. I wanted to actually be a bride that got to enjoy and eat at her own wedding. [In retrospect, I feel bad we did this, though. We only had gotten to greet four tables during our rounds, missing out on eleven others.] Our servers cleared our dishes out of the way, and Best Man Brendan stood up to give his speech.

Brendan's speech was so sweet. He talked about how we were the epitome of what the perfect couple should be and how everyone tries to find true love like we share. He spoke genuinely from the heart and made all the ladies in the room melt.

Then my Maid of Honor, Melanie, gave her speech. One of Melanie's best attributes is being extremely witty without even trying. Her speech was very intimate, and included many inside-jokes from when we were young. She even included our signature "spasm" joke - where we hit each other on the arm and apologize by saying we had a spasm. Melanie then jokingly threatened Chris and said she'd kill him if he ever did anything wrong to me. It honestly couldn't have been said any better.

Melanie making me laugh

And with that, she asked that everyone raised their glasses and toast to us.

Cheers!

Tinking of the glasses - We had to kiss

DJ Steve then asked for the entire bridal party to come on up to the dance floor to kick off the reception. I had previously told our bridesmaids and groomsmen that they were going to have to cheesy slow-dance with their escort, so a lot of them were dreading the bridal party dance. I got them good though, because I had really picked "Love Shack". Once it started playing everyone went crazy!

My new b-i-l Paul did the worm!

Then before the song ended, DJ Steve coaxed the rest of our guests to join in and we continued on with our dance party!

We danced to a bunch of newer hits early on in the reception, the most popular being, LMFAO's "Party Rock Anthem" and "I'm Sexy And I Know It". (Now every time I hear these songs on the radio I reminisce about our wedding!)

To be continued…

 

[librarygeek]

* Fun! It looks like everyone was having a great time dancing.
* The speeches sound really sweet. My MOH was so emotional she could hardly say anything because she started crying, but even though she didn't really get many words out the sentiment meant a lot.
* I'm glad you at least got to enjoy some of your food! It's so hard trying to make all of the rounds at a wedding, we just barely did it but some of the tables towards the end of the night didn't get much more than a "hi."

 

[MrsDuck]

Wow! It looks like your reception was a blast!

Everything looks absolutely gorgeous!!

 

[NoOrdinaryPrincess]

Aww. The dancing pics are cute. I would like to point out that I JUST NOW realized that your username is your name spelled backward. Let's face it, I'm not very smart.

 

[BethieTink]

Wow! I have missed a couple of updates. My Bad!!

* Wow, ADH looks fabulous. Elizabeth really did a fabulous job.
* Love the chiavari chairs. I love the bow on the back. I have been going back and forth on whether or not to do a pink bow on the silver chairs at the reception, but seeing yours, I think I am convinced.
* Looks like your bridal party had a blast! The dancing in looks awesome.
* I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE that Disney makes your plate for you. I am so looking forward to that.
* Looks like a very sweet first dance.
* The toasts sounds very heartfelt. Our Best Man's toast from 2002 is still one of the highlights for us.

Can't wait to see more!

 

[elleinad16]

* Fun! It looks like everyone was having a great time dancing.
* The speeches sound really sweet. My MOH was so emotional she could hardly say anything because she started crying, but even though she didn't really get many words out the sentiment meant a lot.
* I'm glad you at least got to enjoy some of your food! It's so hard trying to make all of the rounds at a wedding, we just barely did it but some of the tables towards the end of the night didn't get much more than a "hi."

It was a lot of fun - and kept getting better! I'm really excited to hear our speeches again on the video, since I can't remember everything verbatim. Thanks, Becky!!!

Wow! It looks like your reception was a blast!

Everything looks absolutely gorgeous!!

Thanks, Faith! It was a lot of fun.

Aww. The dancing pics are cute. I would like to point out that I JUST NOW realized that your username is your name spelled backward. Let's face it, I'm not very smart.

I think you are the first one to figure out my username, so you are very smart!!!

Thanks!!

Wow! I have missed a couple of updates. My Bad!!

* Wow, ADH looks fabulous. Elizabeth really did a fabulous job.
* Love the chiavari chairs. I love the bow on the back. I have been going back and forth on whether or not to do a pink bow on the silver chairs at the reception, but seeing yours, I think I am convinced.
* Looks like your bridal party had a blast! The dancing in looks awesome.
* I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE that Disney makes your plate for you. I am so looking forward to that.
* Looks like a very sweet first dance.
* The toasts sounds very heartfelt. Our Best Man's toast from 2002 is still one of the highlights for us.

Can't wait to see more!

Oooh, the pink bows on the silver chairs will look so fancy! I say do it! We all did have a blast! I loved dancing with everyone. Thanks, Beth!

 

[elleinad16]

11/11/2011
Father-Daughter & Mother-Son Dances

We had been dancing for about an hour or so, when DJ Steve announced that we were going to do the Father-Daughter / Mother-Son dances. Now, it should go without saying that I love both of my parents so much, however, my Daddy is really one of my most favorite people in the world. (I'm already starting to get very emotional typing this--Thank goodness none of you can see me!) I've always idolized him and I act a lot like him. We always have the best times together--Laughing, joking, and just being together. That's why I cherish our Disney vacations the most. I wanted the Father-Daughter dance to be a surprise tribute to him. My Daddy is one the biggest Elvis Presley fans, so it was a no-brainer to pick an Elvis song. I chose, "The Wonder of You", which I still can't listen to without starting to tear up. We started to walk down the ramp and onto the dance floor when the song started to play and my Daddy immediately recognized it was Elvis.

Surprise - It's Elvis!

In the beginning of the song, I told my Daddy I appreciated everything he had done for us. None of the wedding would have been possible if it weren't for his help. I told him I loved him and then the chorus hit, I heard the lyrics, and I fell apart. This was the most emotional part of my wedding day. If you recall:
First Look - I teared up
Ceremony - Cool-as-a-cucumber
But once I got to the Father-Daughter Dance - I was a blubbering mess

My most favorite picture of us

When we were done, we went over to my Mommy (who was also a crying mess) and stood back to watch Chris and his mother dance. Chris chose the song, "Somewhere Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World" by Israel Kamakawiwo'ole. They have traveled to Hawaii a couple times before, so I'm sure this holds many fond memories for them. (And of course, who can't resist these two classic songs mixed together?!) I didn't notice at the time, because I was too busy trying to calm myself, but they did shed some tears as well.

The song faded out and then it was back to more dancing!

To be continued…

 

[elleinad16]

11/11/2011
Mickey & Minnie Mouse

Somewhere, in the middle of all the dancing, I had forgotten that Mickey and Minnie Mouse were coming to attend our reception! It wasn't until I heard gasps and the "Mickey Mouse March" song that reminded me. I turned around to see all of our guests encircled around them. I don't know who had more fun dancing with Mickey and Minnie…the kids or adults? Our guests are still talking about how this was the highlight of the wedding for them.

A rather crude side-story about these next 2 pictures: My manager from the Disney Store had worked down at Disney World for about 10 years--During his time, he had worked as many of the tall costumed characters. He told me that shorter costumed characters, such as Mickey Mouse, is almost always a girl inside the costume. (He only knows of one male) When we told this to our one groomsman, Mike, it became his goal to sweep Mickey off his (her?) feet and "sleep" with her on our wedding night. So when I see these pictures I can't help but laugh-out-loud. All dirty jokes aside, he was very well behaved and did not make a move on Mickey.

Although, he looks like he's going after Minnie here…?! Haha.

Dancing to "Hey, Mickey"

What a lovely couple

My friend Charlotte and her boyfriend came all the way from Germany for our wedding!

Group dancing to the "Cha-Cha Slide"

How low can you go?

To be continued…

 

[librarygeek]

Your father/daughter dance and Chris's mother/son dance are so sweet The pictures are just beautiful. I feel the same way about my daddy and just seeing your pics and thinking about how much my family means to me brought some tears to my eyes as well!

The pictures of Mickey and Minnie are amazing!! I know they are a little expensive but it seems from your pics they are totally worth it! I love their fancy gold outfits too

 

[elleinad16]

Your father/daughter dance and Chris's mother/son dance are so sweet The pictures are just beautiful. I feel the same way about my daddy and just seeing your pics and thinking about how much my family means to me brought some tears to my eyes as well!

The pictures of Mickey and Minnie are amazing!! I know they are a little expensive but it seems from your pics they are totally worth it! I love their fancy gold outfits too

Thank you! Out of everything we decided to keep--I think Mickey and Minnie was the best! I was so excited they came in the gold outfits, too. Minnie just looks so cute.

I honestly can't even scroll up to read about the f/d dance, because I'll just start to cry again! Thanks, again!