Lisa and Geoff's Castaway Cay DCL Dream Wedding PJ&TR 11-12-11

[dbjess1009]

I picked out the autumn one...that's why i was asking because it has orange in it...it looks really pretty!

On the night of your wedding for dinner did you eat with your guests? There's only 20 of us so I'm hoping it'll be close together....We're doing the on-board ceremony in the outlook lounge...I'm getting so excited! Can't wait to see all your pictures!

 

[PixieDust1969]

I picked out the autumn one...that's why i was asking because it has orange in it...it looks really pretty!

On the night of your wedding for dinner did you eat with your guests? There's only 20 of us so I'm hoping it'll be close together....We're doing the on-board ceremony in the outlook lounge...I'm getting so excited! Can't wait to see all your pictures!

I am picking them up tomorrow night! I can't wait! I looked at the Autumn bouquet also...it is gorgeous in the picture and let me tell you...my flowers were awesome and they were just roses. I was very happy with them. I hope you will post pictures of your bouquet after your wedding. We ate with our guests every night. Since we were only on a 3 night, we decided to not miss one of the rotations and eat with our friends and family. I was able to turn in a seating plan with Shanda when I got close and she forwarded to the cruise line. I had to make tables of 4, 6, or 8. We will definitely do Palo on our Honeymoon cruise in March.

 

[dbjess1009]

I will post pictures! sorry I keep asking so many questions! Did you get your hair done on the ship? I'm getting so nervous! I'm sure everything will be perfect! I live in Orlando too! Not looking forward to all the name change stuff!

 

[PixieDust1969]

I will post pictures! sorry I keep asking so many questions! Did you get your hair done on the ship? I'm getting so nervous! I'm sure everything will be perfect! I live in Orlando too! Not looking forward to all the name change stuff!

Actually, I am friends with my stylist and her husband and have been for years so they came to the wedding and she did my hair. Don't stress about that. Lots of brides have had their hair done on the ship and it looks great. Just make sure you tell them what you want, or bring a picture of what you want. That way they have something to use as a guide to what you want.

 

[PixieDust1969]

Day 1- PreWedding Manis and Pedis- November 9, 2011

The day before we were scheduled to leave, my mom, aunt, and one of my sisters along with Geoff’s mom, sister, and niece went to have manis and pedis. I went that morning early to have my nails done since I go to two different places for my nails and toes (I know...). I met them all there at 11:30 and gave them their gifts while we were getting our toes done. Donna and Wendy loved their Mickey pearl necklaces and I had also given them a starfish bracelet. I also gave them their wedding gift bags so I would have less to carry onto the ship.

My sister brought a couple of bottles of wine and some cheese and crackers while we were getting our toes done. We took up all of their chairs, luckily I had made appointments for us all.

My other sister and niece were supposed to be there as well but they had to change their flight and would not be here until 12:30 a.m. that night (well, morning). They were definitely missed.

When I was finished and was waiting for everyone else, I ran to my nephews school to get him so he could go to lunch with us and we wouldn’t have to rush to get him picked up on time.

Here we are all finished! My nephew is actually in this picture, hiding in back of all of us!

We went to Macaroni Grill for lunch. This is my nephew and soon-to-be niece at lunch. They get along so well.

We all left the restaurant around 3:00 to go and get final items packed. We were SO excited for Thursday morning to finally get here! Here is the greatest part...while I was out with all of the girls, my wonderful Geoff cleaned the bathrooms and did all of the floors in the house, and dusted everything so we would have a clean house to come home to! THAT was a great surprise!

We were all packed by this morning so that evening we went and walked around our little downtown, got some ice cream, and came home to watch Survivor like we do every Wednesday night. It was a nice calm day before all of the excitement.

 

[KristiLyn]

Yay! Pics!! You looked beautiful and can't wait to see more!!

 

[PixieDust1969]

Day 2 Part 1 Arriving at the Port November 10, 2011

I woke up at about 6 a.m. as I was SO excited to leave. We were all packed except for the few things we were going to use to get ready in the morning. We threw on clothes with the intention of changing when we got on the ship and before our legal ceremony.

Geoff packed the car with all of our stuff.

You would have thought we were going on a 7 night cruise with all of the stuff we had! It all fit in the Civic and my dress was draped across carry on bags in the back seat. I wasn’t too concerned since it was going to be steamed before the wedding. We had 3 suitcases, a garment bag, 2 carryon bags and my wedding dress. Can you imagine if I would have had 21 gift bags still to give out??

We left our house at 9:00 a.m. with plans to stop and get something little for breakfast. We went to Hardee’s and then got on the road to the port.

I was so excited when we saw the Dream for the first time!

It was beautiful and MASSIVE compared to the Magic and Wonder. I couldn’t take a picture fast enough. I then had to take one with my phone to text everyone on their way over. The texts were flying back and forth and everyone was so excited!

We got to the port at about 10:15 prepared to have to wait in line since we were early and I had read that they do not let you in before 11. Not true. Geoff dropped me off at the curb, we checked our bags in, and went to park in the garage.

Parking is paid as you leave, not when you arrive. It is $15.00 per day, not per 24 hours so it was $60.00 for a three night cruise.

Side note...I think it is awful that they charge you per day instead of per 24 hours. What that means for example...we pay for the day we arrive at 11 or whatever, but the people who got off of the ship that morning also paid for that day. Disney is double dipping on parking at least 2 times a week! It used to be that you paid for the number of nights of your cruise. Just saying...and I would have paid $1,000 since I was so happy to be getting married!!

It was just a 15 minute wait until they began letting us into the terminal. They let everyone in at 10:30. Now, carrying around a wedding dress invites a lot of people to talk to you and congratulate you, which is so very nice. I could not believe the number of people that were talking to us and congratulating us.

We went into the Castaway Club member line and went up to the desk. She asked for our name and then the cast member said, “Oh, you are getting married...you have a red alert on your account,” She said she would be right back. Now I am thinking...what in the world didn’t we do that we were supposed to do??? She came back with an envelope and said this is for you. It is very important. It was a card from Andy, our on board wedding coordinator. We were to meet him at 3 p.m. at guest services. The cast member also gave us a boarding card with a number on it and it was NUMBER 1!!

This meant we could board with the first set of people going aboard. She told us we could take a few people on with us but not the whole party of 59 (which were not all there yet) which I thought was very nice. We decided to take on our photographer and his wife who happen to be good friends of ours.

While we were waiting in the terminal, several families from our party checked in and got numbers to board. The numbers are based on check in times that were selected when everyone did the online check in. I do have to say, the terminal was not crowded and the line to check in never got really backed up since they stagger people in based on check in times. I really liked that.

While we were waiting, we went out on the patio of the terminal and Santi (that is my photographer) took some pictures in front of the Dream. I still could not believe how BIG the ship was!

To be continued...

 

[BethieTink]

Lisa,

Great start! I miss the Dream so much and this isn't helping!!!

Can't wait to see more!

 

[PixieDust1969]

Lisa,

Great start! I miss the Dream so much and this isn't helping!!!

Can't wait to see more!

The Dream is such a beautiful ship. I was so excited when I could see it from the bridge driving over there. I was definitely in awe!!

 

[PixieDust1969]

Day 2 Part 2 Getting onto the ship!!!

So, Number 1 was called to get onto the ship. Geoff and I along with Santi (our photographer) and Janee, his wife got onto the ship. I am so glad Santi was with us as he took pictures the ENTIRE time!! We had SO much stuff!

They announced us going into the atrium of the ship and then a cast member took us aside and explained where everything was and that staterooms would be available at 1:30 and luggage would be delivered by 5.

When we walked into the atrium, to our surprise they were putting up the Christmas decorations! I had hoped for this!!

We freaked a little since we wanted to change our clothes before we went to meet Andy at 3 to do our onboard ceremony. Oh well, neither one of us seemed to care since we were so excited to be on the Dream!

We decided to text everyone that was still waiting in the terminal to meet us at Cabanas for lunch. We met Geoff’s parents in the lobby and went up in the elevator.

The food at Cabanas was wonderful! They had shrimp, lamb chops, wraps, pizza and lots of yummy things!

We sat and met everyone right outside of Cabanas and right behind the soda station. Our custom cups were a hit and everyone brought them with them! I saw lots of our cups during our cruise!

There was a waiter going around selling the drink of the day (Paradise Punch). If you buy it the first day for $9.00, refills for the rest of the cruise (with each days Drink of the Day) is half price.

We met a lot of our guests near Cabana’s and at 1:30 decided to go and drop our stuff off in our stateroom. We walked around the ship for a little bit. She is a BEAUTY!! Here are a couple of cool shots...

Up next...going to our stateroom and our onboard wedding! Need some feedback...Do you like the pictures big or small?

 

[ccbride412]

Big is fine! They look great so far! Can't wait to see more!

 

[PixieDust1969]

Thanks for reading CCBride412! You might be the only one!

 

[PixieDust1969]

Day 2 Part 3 Our Legal US Ceremony

We went to our Stateroom and we were surprised to find several fun things for us in the room...the only thing we were expecting was the Castaway Club gift...

On our bed was our Castaway Club gift which had 2 metal water bottles, 2 rice crispy treats, and a key chain all in a cute little bag. There was also a DFTW bag with two great big huge beach towels in it. They were huge! We also had $175.00 in stateroom credits and a letter on the bed from Andy, the onboard wedding coordinator welcoming us to the Dream.

On the table we had a welcome fruit basket. Luckily, my nephew came in and ate alot of the grapes and strawberries! Geoff and I never could have eaten all of that fruit ourselves.

We decorated our door. Our guests really liked that they all got Mickey ears and name tags for their doors. The DisBoards were a great place to get these ideas. Each of my guests staterooms also had a thank you magnet to put on their doors with characters from their favorite Disney animated movie.

We went to Guest Services on Deck 3 at 3 p.m. We were told we were allowed to bring 2 witnesses with us by Shanda and she also told us it would be a good idea to bring our photographer with us as that is the time our onboard wedding coordinator would be going over our wedding on Castaway Cay. Based on some previous DCL brides, I decided to take my parents, Geoff’s parents and my aunt to the ceremony. Santi, my photographer, was also going to go.

We all met at guest services. That is when I met Andy, the onboard wedding coordinator. Let me tell you, he totally reminded me of Franck from Father of the Bride. He was SO enthusiastic and very excited I had brought everyone with me to the legal ceremony. My dad was the first one there and Andy had already sent him into the room.

Andy walked us up to the Fantasy conference room. There was plenty of room for all of us to be in there. When we walked in, I realized I had forgotten the rehearsal bouquet of bows one of my friends had put together for me from my shower. I told Geoff and he offered to go to the room to get it. He left and in about 5 minutes was back. We went to get started and the official that was going to do the ceremony asked us for the marriage certificate. I COULD NOT BELIEVE WE LEFT IT IN THE ROOM! Geoff left again to go get that...this time he left his key since he had set his lanyard down on the table.

Santi, the photographer left to go and find Geoff with his key... So, now both of them were gone and we needed to be finished and out of the room by 4 for the lifeboat drill! Have no fear...Andy called our cabin boy and he was prepared to let him in! Well, it ended up that Geoff and Santi found each other and were back in a jiffy! Thank goodness!

We had our legal ceremony and Santi took some pictures. You cannot tell from the pictures but I cried through the whole thing. My mom was crying, his mom was crying... All were very happy tears and I think a relief that Geoff didn't have to run all over the ship anymore.

I love this picture in Sepia!

Geoff had also gotten me a beautiful diamond and gold band for our first wedding that I put on my right hand. So now I have two wedding bands, one from each ceremony.

Our moms were our witnesses... and here is a group shot.

When the ceremony was over, Andy sat down and went over the guest list (all 59 people) and asked if we had seen or heard from them. There were 4 people we had not heard from so he was going to check and make sure they had checked in and if they had not would let us know. He went through the Castaway Cay day and how it would unfold with us and went over the timeline. He also told me he saw our flowers and they were beautiful! I couldn't wait to see them. He let Santi know exactly what would happen during the day so he would know about pictures. Andy was AWESOME!!

He asked about our wedding attire and if we wanted it steamed. He said to leave anything we wanted steamed or anything we needed to give to him on the bed by 5 p.m. and he would be sure to take care of it. We left our clothes, toasting flutes, guest book, and the CD of our music. He also went over what the plan would be if we were not able to dock at Castaway Cay. (In my head, this was not even a possibility)

We left the conference room and had just a few minutes before the lifeboat drill.

 

[BethieTink]

Lisa,

Congrats on the legal part. Love the magnets. Love the bonus wedding band. Very cool.

I am really enjoying your TR, just wish that I had gotten a chance to see you on board. Can't wait to see more.

 

[pinkfairy1684]

This was a great installment of your TR! Great pictures, too! Keep the updates coming!

 

[PixieDust1969]

Lisa,

Congrats on the legal part. Love the magnets. Love the bonus wedding band. Very cool.

I am really enjoying your TR, just wish that I had gotten a chance to see you on board. Can't wait to see more.

I know, I wish I would have gotten to meet you as well. The cruise went so fast! It was like a blink!!

This was a great installment of your TR! Great pictures, too! Keep the updates coming!

Thank you for reading along!

 

[DoomBuggy0922]

Oh, this is all just so lovely so far. (And such a welcome distraction from the paper I am writing right now!) I love all of your DFTW swag. Your bouquet was lovely! And I love that your now-DH got you a ring for each ceremony. I think he is a keeper, don't you?!?!

Can't wait for more! You are making the cold, rainy weather seem much brighter with all of these sunny pictures!

 

[luvs2cruise]

Loving all of your report so far. Can't wait to read more!

 

[PrincessTinker11]

Lisa everything looks wonderful, just catching up on your PJ!!! I cannot to read more

 

[elleinad16]

Oh wow, Lisa--The Dream looks so beautiful! How wonderful they had the Christmas decorations up. Your legal ceremony was very sweet. I love that it was intimate and something you and your parents could enjoy. I'm so excited to see more. You are making me want to go back on a Disney cruise so badly!