"It All Started With A Mouse" UPDATED 6/1/09 CASTAWAY CAY PT 2

[Keira1387]

Your wedding was beautiful! I love the picture of you with all your girls! Very pretty.

 

[ariel1025]

Your wedding was beautiful! I love the picture of you with all your girls! Very pretty.

Thank you so much! It's been a ton of fun thinking back on the day...so many little things happened that I forget about sometimes.

 

[ariel1025]

Ok, this is it...finally...the moment of truth...THE CEREMONY

So, as stated at the end of my last post, my sister had to leave me to take her place right behind our flower girl

It cracks me up that she is waving to everyone...and apparently she did this the entire way down the aisle

As soon as the doors to the church closed behind my sister, I took my place with my Dad and we both started to cry a little bit. It was the first time he had seen my all morning and I think it just hit us both that he was really "giving me away" that day. Don't get me wrong, he LOVES Candi, but I have always been very close to my Dad and it was a bittersweet moment. Sadly, this is also where the only glitch of the ceremony happened. After my sister got to her place at the front of the altar they were supposed to end playing "Jesus, Joy of Man's Desire" then the doors were supposed to open and they were supposed to start playing Chopin's "Canon." Well, they played the correct song for the bridal party entrance and then they started to repeat it. We waited and waited and waited and they never ended it. So then the church coordinator thought, maybe the pianist would switch songs if she saw the doors open...no such luck Well, I just wanted to be married so I said "oh well, let's just enter."

I was actually really sad because I had ALWAYS wanted to walk down the aisle to Chopin, but I knew if that was the worst to happen all day, I was in good shape. The pianist did switch to Chopin....when my Dad hugged me and shook Candi's hand Oh well, something is better than nothing right?

The rest of the ceremony was absolute perfection. I went go into all the details because it was long (Catholic ceremony with a mass). But, here are some of my favorite pictures:

This is while we were exchanging vows. Of course I cried, and for some reason my Kansas twang really kicked in...guess I spent too much time with my family beforehand

This is when his godparents were giving us the arras (coins for luck). I hate to say, but I honestly don't remember what was said during this time. We were both just lost in the moment of each other. And, I love his face here...truly happy.

Getting the rings blessed by the priest before exchanging them. Quite a scene when Brian pulled his keys out of his pocket to take the rings off his caribeener thingy

The best part of the ceremony

Being officially announced by the priest...I AM A WIFE!!!!!!!

Leaving the church (only to enter it again from the "secret" door to take pictures at the altar...we only had 30 minutes to take pictures after the ceremony ended).

 

[tiggersam00]

amazing! The pics of you two are what true happiness looks like! I know you two will be happy forever just by the expressions on your faces! Totally hooked!
I am actually walking in to Canon too, at least they played it sometime! At least it didnt stop you from getting married

 

[ariel1025]

amazing! The pics of you two are what true happiness looks like! I know you two will be happy forever just by the expressions on your faces! Totally hooked!
I am actually walking in to Canon too, at least they played it sometime! At least it didnt stop you from getting married

That is one of the sweetest things ever, thank you very much!

Yay for another bride choosing "Canon" I think it's such a classic and elegant song.

 

[ariel1025]

Well, we are officially husband and wife and now we are entering (with our entire wedding party) through the secret door to enter the church again for pictures. Unfortunately, we didn't get to do a receiving line after the wedding. I know that lots of people probably found this to be rude and I, in a way, agree. However, we had to be out of the church within 30 minutes after the ceremony ended and it would have been impossible to do the receiving line AND take pictures inside. So, I chose to do pictures. Don't worry we made up for our "rudeness" later.

The rest of this post will mainly be pictures...hope nobody minds

This was our Priest and our Deacon. We had actually only met the Priest that morning...well, Candi met him that morning, I met him when I walked down the aisle All of our marriage classes and everything were done with the Deacon. They were very sweet and after the wedding pictures Decon Palmer tells us "I hope to see you soon to baptize your baby."

My new family

Candi's new family...my sister is very happy to be getting herself a brother...can you tell?

Our entire bridal party...I loved all the red

After the group shots were done we walked everyone outside and took the last few shots that we didn't get that morning

This is one of my absolute favorite pictures EVER!! As I've said my Dad and I are very close and I think this picture portrays us perfectly. Plus, I think you can see how much I look like him in this picture too.

Mom, Dad, Sister and Me. This was one of the only pictures we didn't get a chance to take before the ceremony started and I love the way it turned out.

The last picture before everyone else took off to the reception hall. I can't remember who said what but we clearly all found it to be funny. Now if only somebody could remember what it was

 

[tiggersam00]

Wow, your bridal party is huge! I love all the red too, it really make it all seem very dramatic and romantic, and I do not mind pics in any way, keep em coming!
Was that a church you grew up in, or did Candi grow up in? It's so pretty

 

[ariel1025]

Wow, your bridal party is huge! I love all the red too, it really make it all seem very dramatic and romantic, and I do not mind pics in any way, keep em coming!
Was that a church you grew up in, or did Candi grow up in? It's so pretty

Actually, neither one of us grew up in that particular church. I'm from Kansas and it just wasn't an option to go back there and get married. And Candi is from a small town here in New Mexico about an hour from where we live. But, it didn't make sense (or seem practical) to have the wedding there and then make everyone drive an hour to get to the reception hall. So, we originally looked at the church we have been going to by our house, but they wouldn't marry us because I'm not a (confirmed) Catholic. Candi is and I always go to church with him but I never went through the classes. So, that led us on a big hunt to find a Catholic church that would marry us. That's how we ended up with this church. They treated us extremely well (for the most part) and they never judged me for being a different religion, which was the most important to me. Plus the church was breathtaking!! Sorry for the long drawn out explanation to such a simple question

 

[ariel1025]

Alright, after we got a good laugh out of our system we bid everyone farewell for a little while. They were all going over to the reception hall (where we had a cocktail hour going on to keep everyone occupied) while the two of us had our pictures taken.

And of course here are my favorites

I LOVE LOVE LOVE this picture...the pose and the altar in the background and my train on the steps...now if only Candi was looking at the camera...what the heck was he looking at

Kissy, kissy....I loved when the photographer "made" us do that

Another one of my absolute favorites...I know I have a lot, but I really love this one

Sneaking in another kiss

We stopped on the way out of the foyer area of the church entrance to take this one...I loved the stained glass windows!

The obligatory ring shot

I just love my train so I had to post this picture

Of course you have to do the "head out the sunroof" picture. Ok, so maybe that's so high school prom, but I never got a limo for high school prom. In fact this was my first time in a limo...ever (I mean besides that morning with my Mom and Sister )

Off to the reception we go...the long way around of course...by golly we needed to have a little bit of alone time!!!

Now, one of the only things I regret (for lack of a better word). Remember that Movado watch I bought Candi, well he set it to the time his cousin told him it was. However, his cousin is from Arkansas so it was set an hour ahead of where we live...doh! Not really a big deal except if time allowed we were going to go over to this beautiful area where we could do some shots of the two of us with the mountains in the background (so pretty). Well, I asked Candi what time it was and based off of the time he had we were late to the reception. See, we scheduled a cocktail hour in the atrium of the hotel so people wouldn't be bored waiting for us to show up after our pictures. Then at 5:00 they would lead everyone into the ballroom for the reception and we would be announced in. So, I thought oh crap it's already 5:00 we can't do the pictures. Imagine my confusion when we got to the hotel and everyone was still in the atrium....oh well, I guess. It wasn't anybody's fault and I'm not mad, just wish we would have realized. However, we did get to spend the last 30 minutes of the cocktail hour talking to all our friends and family and that was nice as well. Plus, it made up for our "rudeness" of not having a receiving line afterwards...our guests don't have to know it wasn't intentional that we showed up for the cocktail hour right?

 

[tiggersam00]

Thats totally something DF and I would do with the time! I think these pics are the 1st time I have got to see your dresses whole train, so pretty, how long was it?
That is cool how you found a church who is willing to do a catholic ceremony for you. The reverend we are looking to have for our wedding will do a catholic ceremony outside the church (I am Catholic but DF is episcopalian) which is cool because he told us the readings for the catholic and episcopalian ceremonies are the same (just no communion and stuff) so I think we may do that. Thats crazy how even when you go to a church all the time you cant get married there,the catholic church can be so unfriendly sometimes, I'm gld you found a nice welcoming church in the end

 

[ariel1025]

After being super bummed out that we didn't have time to take mountain pictures I decided that we would still take the long way around to the reception hall. In reality the hotel where we held the reception at was only 10 minutes away from the church (if you took the highway). However, I wanted some alone time with my new Hubby so we kindly asked the limo driver to take the side streets and luckily we hit all red lights I promise you I will never be grateful for that again in my life. But, in this situation it rocked because it made the ride last almost 20 minutes. After I pull myself (and my dress) out of the limo and we did all the last minute paperwork with the driver I called Erica to meet me in the room so she can bustle my train. We both end up at her room at the same time and then I hear mariachi music?!?!? I told my sister "I thought we were the only rooms that rented any ballroom space today." She tells me, "I think you are, they are playing for you." WHAT??? I didn't pay for mariachis. I found out later that Candi's goddaughter's parents hired them as part of our wedding gift. She got all the information out of me she needed without me even having a clue...I was SO grateful. As we went back downstairs I saw the atrium was still full of people (the elevators were the glass ones) and I was really confused...ok, more like agitated. Why weren't these people in the ballroom waiting for us to be introduced. That's when I figured out that we had the wrong time all along on Candi's watch. Oh well!

Candi was waiting for me outside the elevator and we took off to roam the atrium and talk to our guests.

Oh yeah, and eat yummy hors d'oerves (sp??). I was starving!!!

We also stopped in front of this rock/waterfall to take some pictures..too bad the water wasn't running right that day...oh well again

Even though I was upset that we missed out on the pretty pictures it was really nice to have a chance to mingle with our guests. As I stated early it just wasn't possible to do a receiving line and take altar pictures. Plus, this was a lot more personal than a receiving line. We made sure to talk for a few minutes to as many people as we could before the cocktail hour ended. We were very blessed and had a ton of guests at our wedding to celebrate with us.

Candi's Goddaughter also made sure that she got the first dance too cute!!

We also had the guest book table set up in the middle of the atrium and then moved it to outside the ballroom when the people moved in there. This gave people a chance to sign it without being rushed (we had it at the church too of course). We had this entire collection for all our wedding things (guest book, serving set, toasting glasses, picture frames). It's the Lenox Forevermore collection, my parents gave it all to us the Christmas following our engagement and we both LOVE it. All of it now sits on display in our living room.

We did sneak away for a couple of minutes to check out the ballroom before everyone entered and I was completely awestruck at what I saw when I walked in

It was exactly what I wanted and so much better than what I had pictured all at the same time. I was so happy I cried, even though the morning was a rough start, everything else had worked out so perfectly. I knew that I was a lucky, lucky girl! Just as a side note, we didn't order floral centerpieces for each individual table...only half of them. So the floral and candle centerpieces were rotated with a hurricane and candle centerpiece. To me this worked out perfectly. We loved the look, the candlelight helped set the ambiance and we saved money (the candles and hurricane holders were supplied by the hotel).

Our head table..I think it's so cute how they have our "birds of paradise" napkin folds kissing at our seats (top center, do you see it?)

After about 30 minutes or so they guests were led in (by the mariachis) to the ballroom. Once everyone was seated we made our big entrance

We made a big circle around the entire ballroom before taking our seats at the head table. It was so much fun with the mariachi music and everyone standing and clapping along. Then it really hit me "I am Mrs. ****" And then I started to cry...yes, again...this was an ongoing trend, I am such a sap.

And yes I know I look like a big cheeseball with the super big grin on my face in the last two pictures. I was laughing and smiling and crying all at the same time..I was just that happy!

After we took our seats the mariachi band played us a song by request and then the yummy food started coming.

We started with our favorite salad. I don't know the technical name for it but it is basically lettuce, green apples, walnuts, gorgonzola cheese and dried cranberries with a vinaigrette dressing ... yummy. In place of the salad the kids had fresh fruit cup, which looked super delicious too. They also had several different types of dinner rolls and breads with the salad. For our main course we had parmesan and bread crumb crusted chicken with garlic mashed potatoes and steamed vegetables. I know that chicken is pretty ordinary but we either had to choose the least expensive meal or cut the guest list. We chose the cheaper food and it was actually extremely good.

During the first 30 minutes the Mariachis roamed around the ballroom playing at everybody's table and then they bid us farewell. This worked out perfectly because the dinner was an hour and a half and we had created a slide show that lasted exactly one hour to play during the dinner. Victoria (the cousin who hired us the Mariachis knew this when she booked the times for them to play...sneaky, sneaky).

So, after the Mariachis left the slide show began. The reason we decided to make the slide show is because we wanted to give everyone an "inside look" to our life and relationship. I grew up in Kansas and Candi grew up in NM and then we moved to NM together after dating for only 9 months. So, my family especially, didn't know as much about him and our relationship. The slide show began with pictures of Candi (one for each year from birth to when he met me) and then was followed by the same but with pictures of myself. His pictures were set to the song "La Bamba"...apparently when he was little he wanted to grow up and become Richie Valens and would create a concert and play it to everyone and everything. There are pictures of this and of course I included one in the slide show (he didn't know this picture was included until it came up on the screen ). His entire family started cracking up when the song came on, it was super fun. After the pictures of us individually we included tons of pictures of us together starting with our very first picture ever taken together and ending with our engagement pictures. We played a bunch of our favorite songs and throughout the different pages I put some of our favorite quotes. My all time favorite quote is "You know you're in love when you can't fall asleep, because reality is finally better than your dreams" it's by Dr Seuss and I think it's so true.

The slide show was a big hit and a lot of fun. We included all the pictures we could find (silly, serious, professional, self portraits, photo booth..you name it, if I had it we included it). People laughed and cried and laughed some more. We had a ton of people tell us how much they enjoyed it and it was a great conversation starter at the tables. I am very glad we did it and would recommend it to everyone.

The slide show ended at the exact time the band was to start playing...

 

[ariel1025]

Ok, I just want to try to get a quick update in before Candi's Goddaughter gets here. We are keeping her for the weekend and I am sooooo excited We are going to take her ice skating and then make pizzas and cupcakes (her request). It should be tons of fun

***On quick sidenote: During the dinner we had the photographer go around to each of the tables and take a group shot. It may not be the most unique idea, but I am really glad we did it. Now we will have a way to look back and see who was at the wedding. Originally we thought of doing the disposable cameras on the table for this type of purpose, but we had to cut back money wise and we decided to do away with them. We didn't end up with all the candid shots, but this was a great compromise to us. I would recommend that everyone request this from their photographer. When we sent out thank you cards we put a wallet size picture of us and then a 4x6 image of their table shot!***End side note

Alrighty, so as I said the slideshow ended at exactly the same time the band was set to start playing. I let Candi pick the band because he is very in to music and he used to play trumpet in a spanish band and in mariachi bands. He ended up picking Tobias Rene (yes, I realize if you aren't from NM you probably have no clue who he is). Anyway, the band was wonderful, they played a huge variety (spanish, oldies, country....).

We actually had two "first" dances...the first one was a ranchera (to help the band get warmed up). For those who don't know (don't worry I didn't until I moved here ) a Ranchera is a fast paced spanish song, usually a love song and very similar in style to a mariachi style song.

I love the way my bustle turned out. I had decided to go with the European bustle even though a lot of people tried to talk me into the traditional (I don't know what it's called) style. I'm glad I stuck with what I wanted, I think it looks beautiful on this dress!

Another picture during our first "first dance". I love how the dress moved with me when I was twirling and stuff. I felt like a little girl playing dress up.

After the Ranchera we invited everyone onto the dance floor with us.

These two didn't waste anytime at all getting the groove on. Too cute!!! They danced together all night long. I think they are both going to be heart breakers when they get older...uh oh

Ok, time to go ice skating! Everyone have a great weekend!!

 

[ariel1025]

Well, Candi's Goddaughter has left to go back home. We had a great time and her brother ended up staying with us too...so it was double the fun. We went ice skating, it was my first time and I loved it. Sophia fell a couple of times but it didn't freak her out a bit, she just said "the ice makes my bum very cold Shannon ." Her brother, however, fell very hard and hit his head pretty good on the ice. In the end he was ok but it definitely scared him. Later that night we made homemade pizzas and then Sophia and I made cupcakes...definitely makes me want to have a little girl...shhhh, don't tell Candi I am talking about wanting babies

Anyway, back to the wedding report....

After a few songs with everyone dancing we did the father/daughter dance.

We danced to Tim McGraw's "My Little Girl." I actually didn't know what song we were going to be dancing to, I let my Dad pick and told him to surprise me with it. I honestly never would have guessed this would be what he picked...he is definitely not a country music fan While we were dancing he said that he knew there were probably a million brides using this song but that this line told him it was perfect: "I"m gonna tell you how much I love you though you think you already know." He then proceeded to let me know how lucky he was to have a daughter and to be able to share this dance with me.

Just a backstory, as to why that statement was so emotional for us...when my Mom and Dad were first married my Dad got into a terrible accident. He lost control of his car and ended up in the oncoming traffic lane. To avoid hitting another car he swerved and ended up sending his car off a bridge. He rolled the car several times and they had to dig him out of the metal pile that his car turned into during the crash. He wasn't considered to be alive when paramedics got to him and they had to revive him twice on the way to the hospital. They finally were able to stabilize him but said that he would be paralyzed from the waist down from the injuries. This meant that he would, of course, not be able to walk again, but it also made it impossible to have children. Well, my Dad is not one to admit defeat and endured painful therapy everyday to try to walk again. He wasn't making very good progress and was getting extremely frustrated and then my Mom found out she was about 8 weeks pregnant (based off of the math my Mom got pregnant two weeks before the accident). My Mom said as soon as they found out he told the doctor's that no matter what he would be walking by the time I was born...and he was. He had to have braces on his legs for almost two years and then he was walking on his own. This means two things...my sister was truly a miracle baby (she's younger than me) and that he seriously thought he would never be able to dance at his daughter's wedding.

I know that I am so incredibly lucky, I have the best parents, they are so supportive in everything I do. They were extremely sad when I moved away but they never questioned me about it, even though Candi and I hadn't even been dating a year when I did it. I truly believe that even though life can sometimes throw you a curve ball, it's how much you enjoy the game that matters.

After, we finished our dance Candi and his Mom shared a dance as well.

I hate to sound mean, but I don't remember what song they danced to. I know it was a Spanish song and I know people cried again...lol. If you consider me to be a "Daddy's girl" then Candi is most definitely a "Momma's Boy."

Anyway, after the dances with our parents were over, the band played for everyone again. It was definitely a full house and we had a blast. Then the band took their first (of two) breaks. During this break we did the toast and cake cutting. My sister and Candi's brother gave the toasts.

Brian shared a story about when he first met me that was hilarious and then talked about how much he loved having a brother like Candi, even though he secretly always wanted a sister...but now he has both . My sister was super nervous (she hates talking in front of people) so she kept it short and simple, but it still meant a lot to both of us.

Then it was time for cake. Our cake was not exactly a traditional cake, we needed enough for 400 people and I was worried about having a leaning tower for a cake to make it big enough so we decided on this

You can't tell in the pictures but the frosting had edible glittery stuff and I loved how it turned out. I know it doesn't really look like a wedding cake, but it was my wedding cake and I loved it. Half of the cakes were white cake with strawberry filling and the other half were chocolate with raspberry filling. They were both very good and there wasn't a slice of cake left when the night was over!

Cake kiss!!!

Oh and because I haven't had any Disney fun in a while

These were part of the decoration on our cake table

I also had a Groom's cake made for Candi

He is a HUGE KC Chiefs fan, has been ever since he was a little kid. Unfortunately, this isn't the cake I ordered. It was supposed to be in the shape of a KC Chief's helmet, but what can you do. This cake was tres leches (which translates to three milk) I think it's absolutely disgusting but Candi LOVES it, in fact it's the only cake he will voluntarily eat (he didn't even taste test any for the wedding, because he truly doesn't like cake).

After the cake was cut the band resumed playing....

 

[tiggersam00]

ariel1025: This cake was tres leches (which translates to three milk) I think it's absolutely disgusting but Candi LOVES it, in fact it's the only cake he will voluntarily eat (he didn't even taste test any for the wedding, because he truly doesn't like cake).

Hey there,
I couldn't help but laugh at this, my grandmother was Cuban and ALWAYS used to make this and insisted that it was "my favorite"... now I could never stand this stuff, but she insisted I loved it! So I can relate to your feelings about the cake lol !
I LOVVE your wedding cake(s). Such a great idea and it looked so pretty all arranged on the table.
You have me tearing up the story of your dad, that is such an inspirational story! I love that he picked a song and you had no idea, I wouldve cried for sure

 

[ariel1025]

Hey there,
I couldn't help but laugh at this, my grandmother was Cuban and ALWAYS used to make this and insisted that it was "my favorite"... now I could never stand this stuff, but she insisted I loved it! So I can relate to your feelings about the cake lol !
I LOVVE your wedding cake(s). Such a great idea and it looked so pretty all arranged on the table.
You have me tearing up the story of your dad, that is such an inspirational story! I love that he picked a song and you had no idea, I wouldve cried for sure

Well, at least now I know I'm not the only person that doesn't like it. Everyone here loves it and I was starting to think I was too "Kansan" for soggy cake
Thank you for the comment about the cake. I actually didn't know if I liked it at first, but his cousin got married a year before us and her cake was so tall that it was leaning over by the time they cut the cake..I felt so bad for her...and I didn't want the same thing to happen to us. In the end I loved it because it was so different from what you typically see
Well better get back to my housewife duties

 

[ariel1025]

That's a sneak peak honeymoon picture which means.....MY PICTURES HAVE BEEN RETRIEVED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am hoping to finish the wedding report and get back to the honeymoon report over the next day or so.

By the way, I see that many people have looked at the thread, don't be shy, come out and say hi

 

[Mrsdisneyb2b]

I AM so glad you commented on my page because Now I get to read everything from your's!!

I just finished and I Have to say...I love every aspect. The cake, the dress, the dresses, your adorable fg, the rings, just everything!!

And of course... I CAN NOT wait to hit that whirlpool!!!!!!!!!

What room did u have?

 

[ariel1025]

So after we cut the cake we had our second "first dance" hee, hee. I know it's crazy that we had two but we were trying to combine his Hispanic culture with my "white girl" culture. So we decided we would do our very first dance to a song of his choosing and then after the first band break we would do a second first dance with a song of my choosing. Marriage is all about compromise right?

The song I chose was George Strait's "Cross My Heart."

I absolutely love this song, to me it's such a classic love song. My favorite line is the one that says "you will always be the miracle that makes my life complete." I know it's incredibly cliche, but we really are two halves combined as a whole. Our "theme" for the wedding was "Two hearts united as one" and I believe it with everything in me. We just fit together. I am peppy and outgoing, he is a little more shy and laidback, he is athletic I am...well not , I am organized and an over planner, he is cluttered and lives in the moment...it all just works!!!

Following our final first dance we were once again joined on the dance floor by all our family and friends. I don't think we left the dance floor a single time all night, we used the second band break to mingle with everyone, but other than that we were dancing maniacs!!

Somewhere in the middle of us shakin our money makers, we did the bouquet toss

Is it mean that I was slightly sad that I didn't actually know the person who caught my bouquet??? I mean it was an invited guest, a family friend, just not one that I knew

Then we did the garter toss

Sometime after that his family decided to do the "kidnapping of the bride." Now, I had never heard of this until I moved to NM but apparently everyone does it here. Maybe I was in the country too long, but for anyone else who may not know...basically a couple of people "steal" the bride and take her to a secluded location and the groom has to take up ransom to get her back. I was actually really not wanting to do this before the wedding and actually threatened to beat whoever tried to steal me with my high heel Well, the only second the whole night that Candi wasn't by my side (I figured it was wrong to follow him into the restroom ) I was wisked away before I knew what had happened to me. They were, however, sweet enough to do it during the beginning of the band's second break so that I wouldn't miss any of the band playing, which I really appreciated. I was only torn away from my wedding for about 15 minutes and in the end it was pretty fun. Candi even sang to collect money...now that's love...the boy can play instruments like there's no tomorrow but....well let's just say people may have paid more for him to quit singing than to get me back

Like I said earlier we spent the remainder of the break mingling with our guests. Then the finally set started with La Marcha (a wedding march). This is a super fun tradition that I was not going to miss out on. For anybody who's confused (no worries, my whole family was ). You pick a couple to lead the whole thing, behind them is the Bride and Groom followed by the wedding party, then the parents and grandparents and then anybody else who wants to join in. All the guys are on one side and all the girls on the other. It starts out with you dancing along as a couple, pretty much in a "follow the leader" sort of way like this:

Along the way you just have a good time, dancing around the whole ballroom and waving and laughing and just having a good time

Then at a certain point the lead couple starts to form a "bridge" of sorts and one by one the couples go under and continue the "bridge" like this

As people go under you can do a "london bridge is falling down" and trap them like this

After the last person goes under then the first person goes under the long windy bridge and pretty much everyone traps the Bride and Groom along the way. You then make a big circle all holding hands and over time the Bride and Groom are in the center of the circle dancing together with all their friends and family surrounding them. It is super fun!!!!

Now, we were not planning on doing the dollar dance since the Kidnapping of the Bride took place but all of a sudden at the end of La Marcha everybody started pulling out dollar bills. We couldn't deny our guests of their wishes could we?

So we immediately went into the dollar dance

I am really glad we did it, not because of the money, but because it gave us a chance to talk to almost all of our guests.

Following the dollar dance the band played a few more songs. The last song they played was my favorite Tobias Rene song which Candi asked them to dedicate to me and then it was all over and of course I started to tear up a little bit

After saying goodbye to all of our guests we went up to our room (we got the honeymoon suite for free for booking our wedding with them ). There was champagne and strawberries waiting for us which I enjoyed while taking a bubble bath


And They Lived Happily Ever After...

So, that brings us full circle, back to the beginning of this Trip Report

I appreciate all of you allowing me to share my wedding day with you even though it wasn't a Disney Wedding!!!

Now as promised I will continue our Honeymoon Report (all our wishes and prayers were answered and the IT guys were able to retrieve all my pictures from our crashed computer...thank goodness).

 

[ariel1025]

I AM so glad you commented on my page because Now I get to read everything from your's!!

I just finished and I Have to say...I love every aspect. The cake, the dress, the dresses, your adorable fg, the rings, just everything!!

And of course... I CAN NOT wait to hit that whirlpool!!!!!!!!!

What room did u have?

Thank you so much for the sweet comments!!! Sadly, I don't remember our room number. I can tell you that it was the room in the corner behind the food lounge (not the one right behind it but the very last room behind it). The kids corner was right beside it and when you stepped out of your room into the hallway you could see the lobby of the WL....so pretty!!!

 

[tiggersam00]

your posts always make me tear up Shannon ! Cant wait to hear about the honeymoon too ! Gotta love WDW!

Where did they kidnap you to? I havent heard of this before. It was great to incorporate all the fun traditions from his family (well now your family too )

Also, what is the dollar bill dance?
I love how sentimental Candi is dedicting songs to you, singing for your freedom lol! So sweet!

Your wedding honestly looked like pure fun! Thats what a wedding should be, good times, yummy food, and family and friends!