all i knew about sunday was that there was some kind of shenanigans going on where i had to meet jennifer at around 9. now i figured it was some bridal type event, like she and i were going to eat breakfast or get our nails done. well, it was still quite chilly that day (and PS - i was probably at this point checking the weather in lake buena vista AND nassau about every 10 minutes. don't judge, you will too), but nice and sunny. so pete hauls all of us to the poly. and then he dissapears for a bit, and then says "cmon" - i can't now remember if jennifer came out at this point or not - i think not. so we go into the poly and go upstairs. there at ohanas are waiting all the female guests (pert near!) for the wedding! it was a BIG surprise bridal shower!
(forgive the terrible picture quality)
we had quite the smashing breakfast (mmmmm carbs) with lilo and stitch AND presents! jennifer and her mom really went all out - her mom lives in hawaii several months out of the year and came in the night before. she brought me a beautiful fresh lei, as well as a keepsake one. also really pretty plumeria earrings in silver with a (assuming not a diamond!
) crystal gem on each FOR ALL OF US! and mints with our name and date on them, little shell votives and the poly leis some CMs gave jennifer to decorate with! it was very cool!!!! i was really surprised and humbled as well.
here is me with an embarrasing amount of those cool dooney and bourke sketch bags - TWO!
and of course, the elusive "just married" button, which, upon receiving, i screamed 'OMG WHERE DID YOU GET THESE?!?!"
apparently, she just asked the concierge desK at the poly and they just handed 2 over LIKE IT WAS NOTHING!!!!
after a great breakfast, i was punished by being forced to see captain eo at EPCOT. we were there until illuminations, which many of you may not know invloves fireworks IN THE LAKE! that became the catch phrase of the weekend, after an exuberant CM described it that way at the end of the american edventure! the same CM also spied mine and trace's elaborate wedding themed accessories, and gave us a magical moment involving a phone call from minnie and mickey and a certificate for a happy honeymoon memory! he was very sweet and we appreciated his efforts!
after enjoying the fireworks IN THE LAKE, we were freezing and headed back home to weddingfest HQ.
on monday, wedding eve, the plans were to attend rehearsal at 9, bring all the wedding stuff to francks, meet our new planner, lisa (great name), in person, check me into the GF and hit MK. we had a no host "linner" scheduled for whomever wanted to come at the crystal palace at 330pm.
the morning was still cool-ish, but sunny and lovely. all day i kept saying "please please please just let it be like this until just noon tomorrow!!". it was really pretty out. we made our way to the WP.let me just say, that i wasn't prepared for the reaction i had - i was really overwhelmed! we hadn't actually been in it before (due to the rehab), so it was pretty wild! we had some time to walk around and check things out, before the rehearsal part started.
we also met rev. miller in person for the first time. he's very charming and did a good job of showing us what to do and tell us how he would help us out or make sure everything went smooth. we ran through it once, got questions answered. i showed lisa all the bits and pieces we brought, and what was for what. we were then turned loose on the MK.
let me just say that it was insanely busy! of course, we weren't there from rope drop and it was unfortunately an extra magic hour day, so apparently everyone in florida and half of brazil was there. it was annoyingly busy! we went on POTC and HM. i think jungle cruise and country bears. i realized later that i never made it even near fantasy land or tomorrow land! after we did the few rides we had, it was almost 3, so we headed up to crystal palace to check in and started meeting up with folks.
it was cool to have our own little weddingfest crew gathering! we ended up with 20, i believe, and the CMs there were so amazing and accommodating - really nice, sat us all together - even had some mickey cofetti shaped into hearts on our tables! we all had a great meal, and get this - the CMs said they felt sorry for trace because he had no hat (i had the bride ears on, and he didn't want to wear the mickey top hat ears all day and neither of us like the annoying new ones), so they went and made this for him!
that was pretty cool!
i had benn feeling increasingly overwhelmed by all the goings on and rushing around, that i had already decided i was going to go check into the GF (our room wasn't going to be ready until 3, no magic concierge met us so i figured we didn't score an upgrade!
) and just keep to myself that night. i felt badly too, because i was telling jennifer that she should stay the night and we will have a slumber party, but i was starting to feel freaked out and needed to chill (not that she wouldn't have). she was uber gracious and telling me to do what i needed and that was her only job. i really appreciated that!
so my stepmom, my brother and i trooped back to the GF, we picked up the rest of the tuxedos at the desk for my step mom to take back to the condo, and i joined the bellman for a ride around the grounds to our room. this guy was awesome - i don't have my notebook right next to me so i don't think i'm remembering his name correctly (david? but i think david was someone else), but i am positive he showed me to my room the only other time i stayed there, 4 years ago. he hauled all our stuff up and showed me to the room.
i will admit, i was a bit dissapointed. the room was ok, it was a typical GF room (i feel it is a highly overrated deluxe resort), had a not great view of the pool and and, most annoyingly, 2 double beds. and the room was tiny - which most of them are. now, i felt stupid because i am pretty sure i did request a king sixed bed when i made the reservation - and they must have known it was our wedding/honeymon because we attached it to every reservation note - but i didn't sk for that again when we checked in. i did express that shoot, i wish we just had one bed - heck, even one double or queen would be fine, but its just so "throw your suitcase on the other bed", mess inviting when you have 2 beds for 2 people like that. i just was hopng for a prettier room. so CM makes a call down tp the main desk, explaining he can see if there is something with a single bed, but there weren't too many of those rooms to start with. meanwhile, im texting and emailing about 47 people with my room number and its almost 5pm.
this went on about 10 minutes. then he says, i think we have another room, so i will take you there. we go back to the front to get keys and i am handed these:
yes, we were upgraded to the infamous concierge level! well, this caused several things to happen - i bacame giddy and was trying to thank the CM profusely, all while texting all the people who had to come to the room - you see, althought the upgrade was quite an amazing surprise, i did not know that you have to have a room key to come up the elevators. so essentially, i would have to let people in, like go down the stairs and let them in. so, i'm emailing and texting madly, trace is flipping out in the parks that we have this concierge room, and i'm trying to unpack and become mellow.
our room was in the main lobby building. the funny thing about this was that i remember celine dion singing in that lobby for one of the xmas specials. i announced a million times and said on the our podcast that i think all those rooms on those balconies were fake! like i thought they were just facades of spaces, like the upper stories of the buildings on main street. well, i was oh-so-wrong! the layout is complicated though, we were on the 2nd floor, and you had to go basically up one elevator to the 3rd or 4th floor, then walk to the other end of the hall and go down to 2. so i tried to run the gauntlet a couple times to make sure i knew where i was going. everyone but the carolyn allen's folks confirmed the second room change (and essentially gave me a texted "woot! concierge!"). i ran by concierge once, and there weresnacksand wine - of course i grabbed a glass of chanpagne and thought i would come right back and grab a smeall plate, but of course i missed the boat on that one!
i settled into the room, and could hear the strains of the MSEP, Wishes and that knew castle show, although i couldn't tell what the heck was going on!
at about 945 i decided i was too hungry to sleep and ordered myself up a cheese plate (that was yummy!) and another glass of wine..... then i tried to sleep....
view from the room -
i think someone was having some kind of DP, but noone looked dressed up, because they were playing wishes outside my room
now THATS what i'm talking about!
You look beautiful in every one of them! You look fit and toned, your makeup and hair look great, and there's NOTHING "clownish" about the way you look!! And "blobby"??? No way!! 
x
The castle photos were the big draw for me and what honestly started us thinking about a WDW vow renewal; if I can't get the ones I really want, I can't see paying over a grand! Waaaahhhh....
Makeup, lovely. Haunted Mansion shots, train tracks shotsthese are fresh and original, and you two look great! 
