MikeR & SuzyB's Courtship, Planning Journal, Wedding, and Disneymoon

[MikeR]

MikeR & SuzyB's Courtship, Planning Journal, Wedding, and Disneymoon

Greetings and Salutations!

The beginning is a good place to start, so to begin at the beginning;

Like all great romances throughout the annals of history, Mike and Suzy met over an internet dating service. Mike sent out a very personalized note to Suzy that was not just a copy that he cut and pasted to over a thousand girls at match.com, and after he received Suzy's reply he . . . waited. And waited. And waited some more because his life was busy with junk and you know . . . stuff.

So Suzy took the procrastinating Mike by the horns and wrote him back asking what the deal was, he writes her and then doesn't respond to her response? What's up with that?

Mike quickly realizes it was "his bad" and says that he's real sorry and that he did mean to write her, he just forgot to, and tell you what, why don't we avoid a long e-mail relationship and just meet?

Now Mike has a problem: He's bad with directions. Really bad with directions. He'll post a short-story that explains how bad he is in the future, but for now just accept that he's bad with directions. So he asks Suzy where she wants to meet and she lists a couple of places that Mike has _no_ idea of how to get to. Mike asks if she has an address that he can put in his GPS, but no go, all Suzy can offer is "directions" as they involve "streets" and "roads" and "turns", things that confuse and frighten Mike.

So, being a suave sophisticated guy in his late 20's that he is, he asks Suzy if she'd meet him at the most romantic destination in the world, and coincidently one that he knows he can get to without any problems; the local mall.

Specifically the Starbucks at the Mall, and Suzy agrees to be a good sport and meet him there. When they arrive the Starbucks is _packed_ and there is a super huge line. Mike chats with Suzy a bit and then suggests that they go someplace even more romantic than a Starbucks at a mall - the mall food court. Is is a mystery why he was still single at this point.

Suzy, being a really good sport, agrees and they both go to the food court and order glasses of water - thus demonstrating to each other that they are mutually compatible cheap-*****. They talk, and they chat, and while they only have an hour to do so because Suzy has to go to some party, they get a good sense for each other the way you only can through actually talking with someone.

When Suzy has to leave Mike asks if she'd like to get together the next weekend for a real date and Suzy says yes. Mike goes away thinking, "That went well. She seems like a nice girl. I wonder how things will go on Saturday?"

Suzy went away and called her Mom and said she found the guy she was going to marry. If Mike would have known this he would have freaked the frick out!

Suzy's Mom told her to calm down, and not jump to any conclusions and to take things slow.

The next weekend they get together at Suzy's house and go off to a local park to walk around, talk some more, and get together. And it's there that they have their first kiss. [hearts flutter flutter flutter]

Mike and Suzy on their first _real_ date.

 

[Avivasmom]

Great start...we will be in Disney the same time as you.

Where are you staying?

 

[MikeR]

We're staying at the Poly from Dec 31 to Jan 3, then at the All-Star for the rest of our stay.

 

[MikeR]

Mike and Suzy quickly grew close to each other, and did many fun actives like enjoying hikes in the wonderful wonderland of wonder that is Silvercreek falls and experiencing mild hypothermia from said hike

Mike, more so than Suzy

 

[MikeR]

More months passed and there comes a time in any couples relationship when the man decides to shave his head.

Mike was noticing that his hair was getting a little thiner on top than it was when he was a bushy lad of one-score and two. He didn't want to have an accountants hair-cut (you know, with the hair on the sides but bald up top) and decided that if / when he went bald he'd just shave everything off and go for a Lex Luther look.


Suzy was pretty understanding and suggested that he invest heavily in rogain.

She also decided that it was time for Mike to meet her family who lived in New Jersey (they live in Oregon). Now they had only been dating for around 5 months or so at this point, so it was a rather big step for Mike to fly across the country just to meet her family, but her brother was graduating High School, and after that the family was planning on all leaving New Jersey for various other parts of the US, so it was really the last chance for Mike to meet them all at once. So off they went to the green sky's . . . well more of a brownish, actually, of New Jersey.


Mike and Suzy at Princeton:

Mike, Suzy, Her Sister, and Some Friends:

Mike and Suzy's father at her brother's graduation:

Suzy's Family celebrating her brother's graduation:

Mike and Suzy eating at an authentic New York Chinese restaurant because they were (and still are) considering living in China for a few years

 

[MikeR]

After Mike met Suzy's family it was only fair that she get to know hist a little better, so what way to go with Mike's Dad's side of the family to Italy:

The Ralls Clan and Suzy on vacation

This classical building represents a trip to Italy

But this mob of people better represents what the vacation was often like

Mike and Suzy at Capri

At the end of the trip we got held up in security and missed our flight home. We were shocked to learn that airlines will no longer give you a spot on another plane if you miss your flight because of security. We were _so_ angry at that. The only thing that could console Mike was finding a Chik-fil-a restaunt, which he grew up loving but that only had 1 in the entire Northwest and that closed down a decade ago. As you can see, he is way to excited about fast food than anyone has a right to be

 

[MikeR]

As a couple grows closer and closer their thoughts turn more and more towards that paramount question in every relationship: The lack of an increase in equity in renting and the cost-benefit breakdown of owning a house in comparison. So, on bended knee Mike asked Suzy if she would like to get into hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt with him, and she said YES!!!!!

The Happy Couple Doing Copious Paperwork.

The Happy Couple in Front of their New House.

Four days before they had reserved a moving van and arranged for friends and family to help them move Portland had its worst snow storm of the year.

Luckily the happy couple used that day to finish all the packing that they had put-off, so it actually worked out for the best because the snow was all gone by the time they moved.

Moving Day.

Now, when Mike's Mom decided she wanted to sell her house and would rather avoid all the hassle of moving and cleaning it out and what-not, she made a deal with Mike. She would to sell it to him at a reduced price as long as he bought it as-is. The Family Antiques? His responsibility. The broken stairs, stained carpets, leaking faucets, and a million other things that needed fixing? His responsibility? The garage that had accumulated 20 years worth of left-overs from people his Mom had rented rooms out to? He gets the joy of cleaning that sucker out.

It took Mike and Suzy literally months and month and months to clean out that garage, but they got it done eventually.

And once they got one thing done they had to move on to the next project; smashing the old 70's bathtub so they could replace it with a new one. SMASH SMASH SMASH SMASH!!!!

Mike does all the work and Suzy gets to enjoy the goods, just the way it is supposed to be.

They also had to re-do a lot of old wiring because Mike's cousin who is an electrician told them that they lived in what is technically known as a "Death-Trap" and that their house could "burn to the ground any minute unless we fix this god-awful wiring now now now now NOW!" Mike didn't understand all that technical jargon, but he got the gist of it and with a lot of help from his cousin the three got it done.

Of course, when one project is finished there is another one to start. Suzy hated the 1970's style shingles over our inside fire-place and had Mike rip them off and then she repainted it.

Before

After

The basic pastern seemed to be that anything requiring skill or technique is not Mike's forte, but anything requiring brute force is right up his ally.

Like destroying the old fence by running up to it and giving it a flying kick karate chop that Mike learned how to do when he was 12 and has since used precisely once:

Before:

A little after.

A little more after that.

Mike's Mom also rented out most of her house to some immigrants before Mike and Suzy bought the place. Mike was very fond of them and tutored their kids for a while, but they did have an . . . interesting is probably the politest word for it, taste in color schemes;

Mike and Suzy spent a good deal of time repainting much of the house:

After

There was also a slight infestations of ants, but that was nothing that couldn't be curred with a little application of napalm.

The couple also worked on their garden where Mike planted some giant and really humongous blue-berry bushes:

At least, they felt giant and humongous to Mike's back after he had planted them. They also planted a Christmas tree:

which Suzy seems inordinately fond of.

Even though it has been a tremendous amount of work fixing and cleaning up their house, Mike and Suzy both really enjoy being home-owners and feel a real sense of pride and accomplishment in their works. Going through that ordeal helped them grow closer together and made Mike think that the time was right to take the next step . . .

The Happy Couple with their favorite t-shirts which say, "Life is Good" because it really is.

 

[50 years Too!]

OMG Mike. When you mentioned Sivercreek Falls, I knew you were a fellow Oregonian. I'm always so thrilled to know I'm not the only crazy person who prefers to fly cross country to WDW instead of DL.
Has to be Clackamas TC for the Starbucks right? (Your favorite restaurant gave it away).
And my husband used to have a house in Parkrose, looking at the pictures of yours, you have to be in NE or SE.
Don't worry I won't stalk you.

Really enjoying how Mike met Suzy.

 

[MikeR]

the only crazy person who prefers to fly cross country to WDW instead of DL.

Yea, there is simply no way I could spend 10 days at DL, but DW has so many different places and things to do, not just the parks but lots of other recreational activities as well.

 

[MikeR]

Mike and Suzy talked about getting engaged for a while in a round-about way. One day in early January they were walking all a path in some woods.

Suzy trying to leap-from over a poll.

Mike talked about how he was in love with Suzy but that myth and ritual were important to him. In the old days a tribesman wouldn't just ask a girl to marry him, first he had to perform some great feet to prove that he was worthy of her and her of him. Now stalking wild-elephants with a sharpened stick was not Mike's forte, so he had to come up with some other goal. Mike and Suzy talked it over a bit and decided that if Mike got a section of his thesis done and Suzy reached a certain weight that they would then get engaged. This would give them something that they both wanted to do anyways and that would show that they would be willing to work and strive for each other.

The Happy Couple after being engaged-to-be-engaged

A few more months passed, and by April Mike was almost done with his section of his thesis and Suzy was almost at his goal weight so he and she set aside a weekend for a mini-vacation. Due to their busy schedules there was pretty much no way that Mike could keep the purpose of their vacation a secret, so Suzy knew exactly why they were going to the coast.

Suzy getting ready to be proposed to.

Mike made reservations for a quaint hotel on the Oregon coast. Each room was themed like some famous author and Mike got the Herman Melville Room because it was the only one available. The bed was a big 19th-century oak monstrosity, the windows were like port-holes, and the floor was at a slight angle, like on a ship.

On the drive to the coast Mike also called Suzy's parents and asked for their blessing, which they gave. Mike thinks that really gave him major brownie-points and the only reason he did it was that his brother-in-law, who is a real southern gentleman, asked for permission from Mike and his family before he proposed to Mike's sister. Mike considered asking for permission from Suzy's parents, but he really didn't feel like it because if they said no his response would have been, "Well up yours. I'm doing it anyways!" so asking for permission when you don't really need it didn't gel with him, but a blessing sounds nice so what the hey?

Mike and Suzy bought some nice wine, some cheese, some breads and other goodies. They drink some, ate some, and then laughed some. Mike then told Suzy a story about how a boy met a wonderful girl and how she helped him become a Man. How she was everything he could ever want in someone and how he asked her to marry him and she said yes. How they lived together and had a wonderful life together. He then asked if she would make his story come true. Would she marry him?

She would.

Suzy after she was proposed to.

Mike and Suzy first picture together as an engaged couple.

Suzy could not stop admiring her ring.

 

[k_reile]

subscribing...can't wait to see how it all turns out! I love weddings and Disney of course! Congrats on your engagement.

 

[MikeR]

For some reason after Mike and Suzy decided to get married most of their friends also decided to do the same, and they have gone to three weddings this year alone. At one dinner party they threw four out of five of the couples were engaged, and the fifth got engaged within three weeks. Mike and Suzy are sure that this happened just because they are so gosh darn cool that everyone wants to be like them, rather than that they happen to be in their late 20's and their friends happen to be in their late 20's / early 30's.

The first wedding they went to was for their friends Leena and Jason. It was held in Tryon Creek Park, a wonderful woods that Mike used to go to for a quasi-summer camp at when he was young.

Jason and Leena decided to have a themed wedding in the woods:

Leena and Jason getting Married:

Jason showing off his ring, or one second away from punching Mike because he takes too many pictures, you be the judge:

Mike caught the garter belt and Suzy caught the bouquet so it looked like they were going to be the next people to get married. What a shock.

Mike didn't know about the whole "put the garter belt up your Significant Other's Dress" tradition, but he took to it quite fast.

The next wedding they went to was a few months later and it was held in [mumble mumble] a beautiful scenic vista that Mike will never ever forget.

Suzy on her way to the wedding:

Andrea and Chris get married:

The Bride was glowing as always:

Mike and Suzy danced if they wanted to. They could leave their friends behind. Because if their friends can't dance then . . . :

Suzy got down and funky:

Mike got . . . something . . . maybe it could qualify as an odor, but certainly not a funk:

Mike and Suzy's finale wedding for the year (except for the small, trifling, insignificant matter of their own wedding) was their friends Greg and Laura's wedding.

Greg and Laura during their first dance:

Mike and Suzy danced yet again, it's almost as if dancing were a regular part of weddings or something:

And to top it all off, they went and saw Tony and Tina's Wedding (a dinner show) during their Vegas Vacation:

It was truly a year of weddings for Mike and Suzy, and at no point did they ever judge anyone's else's weddings and say, "Oooo . . . we should avoid that." or, "Let's steal that for our wedding." Because that would be wrong.

 

[MikeR]

Besides attending other weddings the Happy Couple had other responsibilities to do, such as cleaning out the garage. This was not an easy task that could be handled in one day, one weekend, or one week. Mike and Suzy kept paying for the largest sized garbage can the city allows, and every week without fail Mike would fill it up with junk from the garage. Slowly over time, week by week, the garage ceased to be a dimension vortex where 10 cubic meters of stuff could be placed in a 5 cubic meter area, and became merely a ridiculously full garage.

Mike's cousin Mark and his Uncle Chuck were also kind enough to come down and pick up an entire trailer full of jun--- antiques. An entire trailer full of antiques. Yea. That's the ticket.

Mike also felt compelled to remove some of the best posters that 1974 had to offer from his garage.

They craigslisted as much as they could, and over a few months sold virtually everything they wanted to sell with except for this wonderful old Oak bed frame which can comfortable sleep six and is guaranteed to survive a nuclear war - and all for only 99 dollars! If you live in the Portland Area, Act Now! Supplies are limited! These prices are so low they are crazy!

However, there was just one final step that had to be taken care of. Books. Lots of them. Many many boxes of them. And not just any books, but really cheesy self-help books from the early 1980's with titles like, "Loving Your Loving Man Who Loves A Love That is Not You" or "Stop Procrastinator and Read This Book Tomorrow."

Now, Mike and Suzy went around to various used book stores trying to sell these, and nobody wanted them - nobody. The resale market for self-help books appears to be very small. People seem to figure out that if these books had actually helped someone 20 years ago the world would be a lot better place than it is now, so the old self-help books must not work, but the news are guaranteed to - it says so right on the cover after all. (Mike's Mom listened to a lot of self-help books in the car when Mike was young. Mike is not a fan of them.)

So what could Mike and Suzy do with books that nobody wanted? It seemed like such a waste that all these trees had to give their lives to make these books which went largely unread anyways. Wait a minute. Books are made from Trees. Trees also make wood. And wood burns! Suzy got an idea! They should built a boathouse out of these books and then have it “accidentally” burn down for the insurance money! Brilliant!

Mike suggested that it might be a better idea to just go to the beach and have a fun campfire rather than risk a half dozen felonies for some hair-brained scheme. Suzy knew he was just jealous that he didn't think of it first but being the kind compassionate finance she is, she went along with his lifelong dream to burn his Mom's self-help books.

Mike and Suzy invited a lot of their friends to the beach, but apparently their is some sort of social stigma against going to a "book burning" or something. Who knew? And nobody else could go with them that weekend. Fine. More burnt carbon for Mike and Suzy then.

Believe it or not, but it took some work to start the fire, but when it got going . . .

it started to go really fast

And then the ghost of long-dead authors turned the flames purple and said, "Why do you burn our life's work, denying future humanity of our wisdom?"

Booze and Fire: Two Good Things That Go Great Together:

Mike and Suzy at their first book burning:

As the night grew long they were getting pretty tired, so Mike decided to cool the coals down with natures natural fire extinguisher. . . . a long stream of liquid was doused on the coals causing steam to arise . . . the steam did not have a pleasant smell to it. . . . it was a pee-like smell. . . . because it was pee. Mike peed on the fire. Just in case that wasn't clear.

The next day Mike and Suzy looked over their last night's adventure and encountered the ashes of lost nowledged (without the k, because Mike swears that what was in those books did not deserve to the respect that the letter K gives).

Mike and Suzy may have doomed the world to a new Dark Age because future generations will never be able to read, "A Rope of Sand: Your Marriage is Just Fine As Long as You Eat Broccoli on the Seventh Monday of Each Month!" but isn't it worth it if Mike and Suzy could park up to two whole cars in their three car garage?

 

[MikeR]

And now for something completely different:

Mike lived in Japan for a couple of years. While there he encountered many strange and bizarre foods. One day he ran into a Cthulu-like fruit that had to be his:

And six years later he encountered that same fruit at a Whole Foods Store . . .

Mike has sense looked up the name of that fruit, but he is curious if anyone else knows it by sight. Do you know what type of fruit this is?

 

[MikeR]

Mike and Suzy talked about where they wanted to go for their Honeymoon. They talked about the places they had visited and about which ones they had enjoyed and which ones they did not enjoy. And then Mike put forth a suggestion: How about Disney World?

"Really?" Suzy asked.

"Yes, really," said Mike.

Mike had gone to Disney World a bunch of times when he was a kid and twice in college, but he has not been back there since early 2001. He has a lot of fond memories of the place and as he was 22 or 23 the last time he visited the place he knows that you can have a lot of fun as an adult at Disney World. So Suzy mulled it over and said yes. It then became Mike's job to make all of the reservations and planning for the Honeymoon and he did so. He got a red-eye flight on Dec 30th and the Honeymoon Suit at the Polynesian for their first three days. After that, the Happy Couple will move to a All-Star Resort for the rest of their trip.

Mike has made the following reservations:

Dec 31: Morning Arrival via Limousine


Lunch Coral Reef Restaurant

Dinner Restaurant Marrakesh

Jan 1: Dinner Spirit of Aloha - Category 1

Jan 2: Breakfast at Cinderella's Royal Table

Lunch Liberty Tree Tavern

Jan 3: Morning Dolphins in Depth

Lunch 50's Prime Time Cafe

Dinner Sci-Fi Dine in

Jan 4: Lunch Fulton's Crab House

Dinner Wolfgang Puck Dining Room (Upstairs)

Evening Cirque Du Soleill

Jan 5: Breakfast Boma . . . Flavors of Africa

Evening Carriage Ride at Fort Wilderness

Dinner Hoop Dee Doo - Category 1

Jan 6: Lunch - Princess Storybook Dining Restaurant Akershus

Evening - Grand Floridian Spa 80 minute couples massage

Jan 7: Morning - Keys to the Kingdom Tour

Dinner - Victoria and Albert's Chef's Table

Jan 8: Early morning: Craig Carroll's Surfing School

Dinner - Boma Flavors of Africa

Jan 9: Lunch - Dining with and Imaginner

Late Afternoon - Golf

Jan 10: Morning - Wild by Design

Dinner - Jiko the Cooking Place

Jan 11: Lunch - Chefs de France

Early Evening - Leave



Now, Mike made a lot of restaurant reservations because he was a little worried that the Holiday crowds would make good dining difficult. He is perfectly prepared to ditch any reservation (except for the the Chef's Table - that took him many a day of waking up at 3:58 AM to get) if the couple is busy having fun and doesn't want to tromp all over to make the reservation and would just rather eat pizza or whatever.

Mike is curious what everyone thinks of his reservations. Is there something he should ditch? Something he should should add? Thoughts? Comments?

 

[OhMari]

It looks like a Kolarobi, but you said it was a fruit.

Enjoying your pre-trip explanation.

 

[k_reile]

You are going to be soo full!! DH and did dining plan when we went in Sept (because it was free ) and it was only one sit down and a counter service and 1 snack a day and even then we could barely move. You might need to rent ECV's because you guys are going to be soo full you are not going to be able to walk...and I hope you are on the dining plan (will save you alot of $$) That was my only problem with the dining plan ---way too much food!! But the restuarant choices are good.
What about wedding plans?
It would be awesome to spend new years in disney....are you going to pleasure island that night...I hear they have a new years party.

 

[MikeR]

...and I hope you are on the dining plan (will save you alot of $$) That was my only problem with the dining plan ---way too much food!!

We decided against going with the dining plan for a couple of reason. I didn't like how it no longer included tipping and due to us having two hotel reservations we could not do it under the 2007 rules. Also, we've both been dieting and have worked hard to lose some weight and don't really like the thought of feeling pressured to eat more food ("Well we paid for it, we might as well get appetizers, and desert and then a snack later on). I also already paid for quite a few category one seating dinner shows, and those are not covered by the Dining plan.

I just like the flexibility of not getting it. Without the plan if we want to skip a meal or split a meal or whatever, then we're free to do so. I can totally understand why the plan would be good for some people, but it just doesn't provide what we need for this trip.

What about wedding plans?

Well, to break out of the Third person narrative that I seem to have slipped into, this is being written by the Groom. My part in the wedding planing comes down to saying, "Yes, Dear. Ok, Dear. Whatever you say, Dear." and so forth.

Ok, that's not literally true, but Suzy is really handling most of the stuff and a lot of it just doesn't interest me. I hate to perpetuate the stereotype, but what percentage of guys get excited about flowers after all?

Oh, I'll be posting some stuff about the wedding plans of course but I can't post pictures of the dress (haven't seen it) or talk in detail about how our wedding planner screwed up (I talked to them one time, the rest was all Suzy) or go into Bridezilla mode (I lack the plumbing).

It would be awesome to spend new years in disney....are you going to pleasure island that night...I hear they have a new years party.

I thought about going to PI, but decided that an Around the World Drinking Tour would be a better way to ring in the New Year. For one thing, Epcot almost never fills up on New Years, but I understand that PI frequently does. We're going to be arriving pretty tired (Wedding on the 29th, red-eye flight on the 30/31st) so I want us to be able to go back to the hotel room for a mid-day nap before we party all night or whatever.

Cheers,
Mike

 

[k_reile]

oh drinking around the world is soo much fun. Dh and did it at the F&W fest....but costly... When we got home DH went to pick up 2 6 packs of beer...came home and said he felt that he ripped off the store because he got both of them for around $12....when one drink was about 7-10 there.... If you like wine or champange...try the pomogrante kir at the France kiosk....very good. Dh does not like champange and after trying mine he had to get one of his own!!

 

[MikeR]

Mike and Suzy talked about where they wanted their wedding to be and went back and forth a couple of times, but finally decided that they would have both the ceremony and the reception at the same place. They have a lot of out of towners coming in for the wedding and winter in Oregon is often not very pleasant so it's best to make it easy on everyone. That involved a changeover after the ceremony because Suzy does not want people to be sitting at their tables while they are having their wedding, but they worked that out with the caterers.

The hall

Big fireplace that will be roaring come the wedding:

Kitchen:

Typical tables:

The deck which probably won't be functioning come winter:

Comfy chairs which we are not allowed to move:

Beams. Who doesn't like beams?:

Outside waiting area: