Ruth & James 10/04/11 *~* TR Day 7 updated 03/11 *~*

[Fay]

Beautiful Pictures!

XXX

 

[BethieTink]

Ruth,

So glad you are back! You have a lot to still tell us.

Loved the two updates. You have started your trip off with a bang that's for sure.

Love the MNSSHP pics. Two of Paul's and my all-time favorite photos you did too! The carriage and the dwarfs. We used our carriage pic for our save the dates.

Can't wait to read more. Don't be such a stranger.

 

[taylor91]

Just caught up, you looked lovely and I absolutely adore your dress So glad you have decided to do your trip report, looking forward to reading some more

 

[princess_ariel_85]

Beautiful Pictures!

XXX

Thank you xx

Ruth,

So glad you are back! You have a lot to still tell us.

Loved the two updates. You have started your trip off with a bang that's for sure.

Love the MNSSHP pics. Two of Paul's and my all-time favorite photos you did too! The carriage and the dwarfs. We used our carriage pic for our save the dates.

Can't wait to read more. Don't be such a stranger.

Thanks Bethie, the Dwarves are such fun. Hopefully we'll be doing it again this year. xx

Just caught up, you looked lovely and I absolutely adore your dress So glad you have decided to do your trip report, looking forward to reading some more

Thank you for reading along, more on the way xx

 

[princess_ariel_85]

Right then guys, onto day 3...

As I write this I'm waiting for Jaws to come on. James has nicely let me watch it. It's my fav non-Disney film ever (or perhaps on par with Jurassic Park ). Jaws always seems to be on the telly and I always seem to end up watching it.... or at least until James comes home and turns it off

Any hoo... Day 3! It was the third day of our trip and we had planned to go to the Animal Kingdom. Oh yayness. I have much love for AK, I really do. I was excited to be taking my Dad and Sarah there. With them being animal people I knew they'd love it. The plan was to meet everyone at AK because we knew we wouldn't be up early.

We got up earlyish... probably about 8.30 and I flicked on the telly (I have a bad habit of watching the weather continuoisly. It's so nice to see sunshines on the weather map instead of nasty horrible rainclouds! ). Before I got to the weather channel.. I spotted a familiar face.

Aha! Mr Jeremy Kyle. There is seriously no escaping him. To all my lovely American friends I apologise for letting him come over onto your screens I often watch his show before work... it makes me laugh.

When we were ready we headed for the buses and as we made our way to the AK line we spotted MIL, FIL and SIL waiting. We made it to AK and my family were meeting us at 12pm. That left us plenty of time to fit in a couple of rides (I was itching to get on Everest...), we headed off towards Dinosaur and Primeval Whirl. I usually hate PW. Because there was five of us we had to go in two groups. MIL and (a very nervous) FIL went with a random couple and me, James and SIL went in the car behind. All you could hear was FIL shouting as us 3 laughing. I now am a big fan of Primeval Whirl.

James, Me, SIL and FIL

It was almost 12 so we headed towards the front of the Tree of Life. Mum, Dad and Sarah arrived (and on time) and they'd been in the park a while already. Me and James were hungry we decided to head over to Flame Tree BBQ for a bite to eat, everyone else went and did the Wildlife Express and the Safari.

Whilst at Flame Tree BBQ James left me to get some straws and napkins etc. I was sat down staring lovingly at my chicken when a nice lady brought me out of my food induced trance. She had spotted my LGMH and introduced herself as Barbera. We had a little chat and as James came back she left. It was lovely to meet a fellow DISer (If your reading this Barbera... Hi! )

After we'd eaten we had time to spare before meeting up with the others, I wanted to do Kali because we missed out on our last trip. It was only a 30 minute wait so off we toddled.

We met up with everyone else and decided to do It's Tough to be a Bug. Sarah really liked this show, especially the bees stinging you in the back. Because my Mum and Dad don't do alot of rides they hadn't done Dinosaur or Primeval Whirl. So there where we headed next (EE is coming up.... don't worry!)

We got to Dinosaur and rode it. All 8 of us... that was a one off and a very rare chance for a photo of all 8. So after we rode it we decided to buy the photo.

Back Row: FIL, Mum, Sarah and Dad
Front Row: SIL, MIL, Me and James

As we were getting this pic a CM asked me what if I was celebrating my Gleekiness. (I was wearing my Super Gleek t-shirt and a I'm celebrating button). I grinned and said yeah, then he asked what we were really celebrating. We explained that tomorrow we wee getting married and he asked us if we'd had a phone call today. We said no. He smiled and dialed a number. Next thing he passes the phone to James and it was Mickey. We shared the call and it was Mickey wishing us well and that he hoped our day went well (or something like that, maybe James can remember ) It was such a lovely bit of pixie dust.

When we were done being chased by big scary dinosaurs (the big one that runs after you terrifies the living day lights outta me..... it really does ) Me, James & SIL took Sarah of Primeval Whirl, it was still fun the 2nd time. Again all you could hear was us (me ) laughing.

It was now time for the moment I had been waiting for... we were going on Everest! You have to feel sorry for my Dad and Sarah. Back at home this was the ride I talked about a lot. We got there and there was a 15 minute wait. Mum, Dad and FIL didn't want to ride so we left them where they could have a good view of the drop. We got through thr queue and it was less than 15 minutes. Because there was only 5 of us me & James went together, Sarah and SIL together and MIL with a randomer. Me and James have done EE before so we knew what to expect. When the ride was over everyone was smiling. They liked it that much it wasn't hard for me to convice them to do it again. We left the gift shop and managed to sneak past the drop outs (who btw were still watching out for us to come down the drop ) We rode it again and we had the same seats as before. We got off and the drop outs hadn't realised we'd done it twice bless them.

Random chameleon in the parade... reminded me of our Pascal.

Anyway we left AK at 4.30pm everyone was hot and tired. We all headed back to the hotels for a chill out, after all the next day was a pretty important day. As our minds turned to the wedding I started thinking about our upcoming MK shoot. I wanted a photo of me and Pascal... don't ask why, I have no idea and to be honest it was hard work getting that photo.

Me and James decided to head into Downtown Disney at 7pm to go find a Pascal plush. We got there and headed into everyshop that would stock a Pascal. Could we find him? Pfft! Nope, he was no where. we went into World of Disney and I asked a lovely CM at the customer service desk if anywhere had him in stock. I explained why I wanted it and to her credit she didn't laugh when a crazy bride to be said they wanted it for a bridal shoot. However has hard she tried there were no Pascals to be found. I had 4 days to find him before the shoot, it was starting to look impossible.

We went back to the hotel, grabbed some chicken nuggets and went to bed.

Sorry it wasn't a long update, I didn't seem to take all that many pictures that day - odd for me, I like to take loaaads of pictures

Next up: Wedding Day!

 

[taylor91]

Got to love AK Sounds like you had another great day especially managing to get onto EE twice without them realising, sounds like my parents when I was younger...but they were proud to say they had been on it twice without us knowing
Hope you did manage to find a pascal in time, I really wanted one when the film came out but they were in short supply
Looking forward to reading about your wedding day

 

[virtuous girl]

The pose u did on the dinosaur ride made me laugh i love that ride!

 

[LittleKittyMarie]

Just joining in, I'm a little late. Eep. Really enjoyed reading your PJ and I'm excited to see your plans unfold on your wedding day. Loving the TR so far, I love all your accounts of going on the rides with your family. Too funny! Can't wait for more!

 

[MrsDuck]

Love your MNSSHP pictures and costumes! Especially Tony Stark! What an awesome idea!

And, I love love love your Dinosaur ride picture! That ride freaks me out!

Looks like you had a great trip!

 

[Sizzle]

Joining in too! Everything looks like so much fun, I can't wait to feel that Florida heat myself!

Great day organization, I hope I can keep everyone in generally the same area lol

 

[LuvLuvLuv]

I'm all caught up and ready for wedding day pictures!!! Looks like you had a lot of fun!! Can't wait to see more!!

 

[princess_ariel_85]

Got to love AK Sounds like you had another great day especially managing to get onto EE twice without them realising, sounds like my parents when I was younger...but they were proud to say they had been on it twice without us knowing
Hope you did manage to find a pascal in time, I really wanted one when the film came out but they were in short supply
Looking forward to reading about your wedding day

AKs one of my fave parks in the world, it's so beautiful.
The Pascal hunt took a twist later in the week, boy is he hard to get hold of.
One wedding on its way x

The pose u did on the dinosaur ride made me laugh i love that ride!

we like to change the pose everytime we do it, same with spaceship earth x

Just joining in, I'm a little late. Eep. Really enjoyed reading your PJ and I'm excited to see your plans unfold on your wedding day. Loving the TR so far, I love all your accounts of going on the rides with your family. Too funny! Can't wait for more!

Thank you for reading along, the weddings coming up x

Love your MNSSHP pictures and costumes! Especially Tony Stark! What an awesome idea!

And, I love love love your Dinosaur ride picture! That ride freaks me out!

Looks like you had a great trip!

James was quite pleased with himself with his costume. He's thinking of going as Linguini this year from Ratatouille.

I'm glad it's not just me that freaks out on Dinosaur! lol x

Joining in too! Everything looks like so much fun, I can't wait to feel that Florida heat myself!

Great day organization, I hope I can keep everyone in generally the same area lol

Thanks for joining in. All I can say with group organisation is be prepared to visit every toilet in WDW. x

I'm all caught up and ready for wedding day pictures!!! Looks like you had a lot of fun!! Can't wait to see more!!

We did have fun... only 32 weeks till we're back. Can't believe your TR has finished, I'm going to miss reading about your day xx

 

[princess_ariel_85]

Hello all.

Time for another update, please excuse typos I'm typing this late at night. (I'm also trying to write another bit of our PTR)

Well here it is, the day we'd been waiting for!

Originally me and James were going to be seperate the night before the wedding. The bridesmaids were going to stay in our room and James was going to stay at his parents. However after lot of compaining and a video recording James decided against it. His parents snoring was a no-no . So in the end we said balls to tradition and we stayed together the night before.

The morning of the wedding we got up at 7.30, which is very early for me. For me at that time the excitement hadn't kicked in and it didn't for a few hours I was in shock from being up early. James left me once he had his shower and that was to be the last time that I saw him until we met again at the altar.

Lori from Lori Loftis Production Services we due at our room at 9am. My dress was a mess, it was so screwed up that I wasn't confident that she would be able to make it look like a dress again!

The mess... umm I mean dress

9am arrived and I was sat all alone in my room, trying to absorb the fact that it was my wedding day. 9.10 and there was still no sign of Lori and anxiety started to creep in. I know it was only 10 minutes but at the time they were 10 very long minutes. Every time i heard someone outside my door I peeped through the peephole and everytime it wasn't her I started to worry. Lori turned up at 9.25. Relieved I answered the door to her and she apologised straight away. She had phoned POP the day before to check which parking area she needed to be in and they (imagine my suprise!) they gave her the wrong info! Bless her she had parked in the wrong end of POP.

Anyway, she was lovely and talkative. We chatted about the Wedding, why we chose Disney, my job (I'm a dry cleaner) and her experiences working with Disney and Universal. We had also had a chat about how I came to hear about her company and I told her about the DISboards. I mentioned Joanne to her. if your reading along Joanne, she remembers your wedding and had alot of nice things to say about you.

What can I say about Lori? well she's amazing. She really is. My dress looked terrible after a 9 hour flight stuffed in a box and she made it look beautiful (of course I am biased towards my gorgeous dress )

Whilst Lori was steaming my messy dress, MIL had fetched me some fruit for breakfast. I don't normally do breakfast but because I wouldn't be eating until 4.30 I decided it was a good idea. I also don't normally do fruit, I'm a cake girl! The fruit was nice though, nice and refreshing. Nom nom nom!

After Lori left it was about 10.30am and I found myself alone again. I seemed to find myself alone alot that morning, which I didn't mind as it left me with peace and quiet. Just before 11 MIL reappeared with my sister in tow. Beaute Speciale would be here soon.

11am arrived and here they were on time. They introduced themselves, we had Laine for make-up and Jessica for hair. I was having both, MIL was having make-up and Sarah was having her hair done. Both Laine and Jessical were very cheerful and chatty, I hate having my make-up done but the were very good at getting me to relax.

I had my hair done first whilst MIL had her make-up done. I wanted my hair half up with curls. I deffinately did not want my hair all up because I have to wear my hair up at work and I hate it. Jessica made a wonderful job with my hair and it lasted all day too! I was impressed at how she managed to get my hair to curl, I can never manage it.

After my hair was done

After I had my hair done and MILs make-up was done it was all change. My sister sat in my spot for hair and I sat down for make-up. As my make-up was being done MIL kept running off into the others room giving them updates. Not that you can tell in any photo but my hair was supposed to be a red colour and she kept making jokes about me looking like Ariel (who is my fave Princess).

MIL for some reason kept pronouncing Ariel with this weird accent and on one of her trips to the other room she blurted out 'She just looks like Ariel!' However what James and FIL heard was 'She looks like Harry Hill' UK folk will know who he is. For those of you who don't know he is a comedian with a bald head and very big shirt collars. I find him quite funny... however I do not look like Harry Hill.

She came back to tell us this and we had to explain to Laine and Jessica who he was. This got us all into talking about TV. They said they were suprised by what we show on TV without being censored back in the UK, it was funny to see another countries perspective on UK shows.

In no time my make-up was done and it looked good (even if I did get poked in the eye with mascara ... I hate people going near my eyes). Laine and Jessical helped me put my tiara and veil on. The ceremony was drawing nearer.

After Laine and Jessica left, it was upto Sarah and SIL to get me into my dress. It was an interesting experience It was weird looking in the mirror with my dress and everything on. I looked so different.

Now I had my dress on and was ready to it was James' turn to be on his own. Everyone else invaded my room. Sarah and SIL were in their dresses and everyone was dressed and ready to roll.

As all 7 of us chatted the phone rang. MIL answered it thinking it was James. Wrong! All we heard was her say ' E- Ello!' in a loud weird accent, followed by 'yeah she's here... Ruth it's for you, it's Tanis'

After apologising to Tanis for my MIL, lol, she gave a quick run through of what was going to happen. we had a quick chat and she gave me one final message. It was from Tanya (Tanners on the DIS) who had gotten married before me and it was such a lovely suprise.

It was now ready to go or well it was for James, my Mum, MIL and FIL. The limo was coming to pick them up at 2pm so off they all went. It suddenly seemed so quiet. We twiddled our thumbs for a few minutes before deciding it was time to head for the limo ourselves. The walk down to the limo was entertaining, appaerently you don't see a bride walk thought POP everyday!

People stared, smiled and congratulated me as we walked. I felt like a famous person lol. As we waited for the limo a little bird was in a tree nearby and it was singing. It made me think of Sleeping Beauty and when Aurora is walking though the woods, so for a joke I copied her. Next thing you know, the bird flew from the tree and sat on a sign post next to me. Dad said it was like I was a proper Disney Princess now.

As we waited in the beautiful sunshine, we started to wonder where the limo was. When it finally arrived the driver got out and apologised. Apparently when dropping off the others my Mum and MIL wanted photos of the limo. You know we have the limo for 6 hours and the bride is yet to arrive but yeah! lets stop the limo for pics. My Dad said it was typical of the mothers, the most important person of the day hasn't arrived yet and they think taking photos of a limo is important, lol. We got in the limo (with difficulty I might add!), it was a fun ride, no one really said anything though. I still wasn't feeling nervous, the only thing that I can remember is that I had the theme tune to Pirates of the Carribean stuck in the head. No idea why lol

Within about 15 minutes we had arrived at the Wedding Pavillion. It was show time!

I'm gonna leave it there, otherwise I'll bore you all.

Next update: Wedding Day part 2: Ceremony. There will be lots of piccies next time too...

ETA: I actually forgot to mention my Dad and his mini crisis. Apparently my Dad bumped into James and his sister waaay before the ceremony and asked if James could do him a favor. He asked James if he had a spare pair of cufflinks because he had forgotten his! James said he hadn't, so James and his sister made a quick trip to DTD to find some cufflinks. They didn't have any plain ones so Dad ended up having to wear Mickey Mouse ones. James didn't think that Dad would like them all that much, but turns out Dad really liked them and has kept them. There's always someone who forgets something.

 

[princess_ariel_85]

Hey guys (assuming anyones still reading along...lol), it's time for another rare update.

Mum, James, MIL and FIL

Okay, so we arrived the the Wedding Pavillion and I still wasn't nervous, only excited. Me and my Dad were told to stay put, whilst Sarah and SIL got out for photos of them walking across the bridge.

At this point I still had 'He's a pirate' in my head. After a few moments of silence it was time to try and get out of the limo. the nice limo driver (whose name I've shamelessly forgot!) helped me out and I stood there awkwardly looking at my photographer. She smiled and complimented my dress and introduced herself as Cassie.

What can I say about Cassie? Well... she was wonderful. She was friendly and made me relax, because for me I'm not very photogenic and when I look back at the photos I look good. Me and my dad headed down the bridge, occasionally stopping for more piccies. It was hard when it came to looking into each others faces because we just kept laughing.

At the other end of the bridge, the bm's, my delightful Mother and MIL were lurking around. Both taking photos of me, with 3 cameras on me I felt like a celebrity. We were all ushered into the Brides Vestibule by Tanis. Tanis is amazing, she's been wonderful from day one. Always responding to emails and I even got a call off her one friday night. it was great to be able to meet her in person. We also met Rev. Jimmy Johnson. He introduced himself and had a nice chat with us. He was a lovely man with a nice sense of humor.

Me, SIL and Sarah talking to Rev Johnson

(I will add a little side story here: Rev Johnson was talking to James and introduced himself to the others who were present, Mum, MIL and FIL. He turned round to FIL and asked if he was James senior, to which FIL responds 'Yes, I am'. Que funny looks at FIL. Rev Johnson never noticed and carried on talking. At somepoint he must have mentioned the 'older James' to which FIL says 'No, I'm David')

By this point both my Mum and MIL had gone into the WP. Tanis handed me and the bm's our flowers and I have to say they're heavier than they look! Beautiful though. Inside the Brides Vestibule was very pretty and I couldn't stop gawking in the mirror at 'me'. Tanis gave us a run down of what was about to happen. As Tanis went we all stood in silence, which is unatural for anyone on my side of the family.

As we stood there I heard 'Someday my prince will come' and knew James was there waiting for me. I smiled and Dad asked what I was grinning at. I explained it was the music. Disney music makes me smile anyway but today was special. Then it was the bridesmaids turn to go and after a few minutes I could hear 'Tale as old as time'.

Tanis came back and fetched me and my Dad, placing us infront of the door. Here we go! The door opened and 'Part of your world' started to play. When we chose the music James was dubious about my song. Probably because he had images of me singing along down the aisle to it. But I was good! Honest! I may have hummed a tinsy bit of the way down and had the lyrics in my head but I didn't sing!

it was hard work walking down the aisle, but I managed to stay on my feet. I handed my flowers to Sarah, who looked a little suprised by it's weight. Well yes Sarah, it would be heavier than your little flower wand, lol!

The first look..

My Dad gave me a kiss on my cheek and shook James' hand - a sign of relief that James hadn't done a runner perhaps? The ceremony was short and sweet, with no screw-ups. Also I should point out that Rev Johnson said he'd been married many years and never once had an argument with his wife - just a few loud debates. He said he'd learnt that the wife is always right. Oh yeah!

We were then pronounced Man and Wife. (Actually we were pronounced Mr and Mrs Hood, which isn't actually our surname! LOL) We did our exit walk to 'When you wish upon a star'. We then had to wait for everyone to follow and congratulate us. Tanis said that this was when everyone hugs you and stuff. She hadn't quite spent enough time with our lot to realise that we're not a huggy group.

My Mum came upto us and her first words to me as a married woman were 'Hello ugly' Cheers Mum. Not sure what Tanis made of that to be honest. Now it was time for piccies with Cassie.

We did pics infont of the altar with just us two, then various combinations of people. looking back we realised we didn't do one inside with all of us. Oops. A couple of shots down the ailse with me and the husband, followed by a few against the window. The new windows are beautiful btw. Then it was time to go outside into the heat and boy was it hot. Normally I love love love the heat but in a corsetted dress it was hard work.

We headed to the archway and had photos of the happy couple, then random positions of people. We wern't overly keen on the pics in the end because most people are pulling funny faces because of the sun. I on the otherhand wasn't complaining because it wasn't raining, not a cloud in sight! As we wandered back inside we stopped for more pics.

(I never noticed the crane in the background at the time )


it was time to head back to the limo and make our way to the GF. But before we did that we took pics of us heading over the bridge and then had a few more pics under a tree. We all got into the limo and agreed to meet Tanis and Cassie on the otherside.

The drive to the GF was a laugh, mainly because we poked fun at MIL who cried on hearing 'Part of your world'. Also on a small note, I barely fit in the limo lol It didn't take long to get to the GF and once again the nice limo driver pulled me out of the limo. It was a weird but nice feeling walking into the GF with people shouting congratulations or waving at you. Tanis lead us all to Commanders Terrace and told me and James to hold back.

She said she was about to announce us for the second time that but wanted to confirm what our surname actually was. Once we were set Tanis went in and announced us, we walked into applause and went straight into our first dance 'Once upon a dream'it which Melissa the violinist played beautfully (another wonderful person who made our day what it was, she is incredibly talented). I'd always had that in mind for a first dance ever since I was younger. When I say first dance I actually mean spin round in a circle till the songs over.

After the first dance it was speeches. Me, James, Dad and FIL stood behind the cake table with glasses of champagne in hand. I kept eyeing the cake and everyone noticed. Tanis asked me if it was ok because they didn't really have alot to work on with the colour, I said it was brilliant, just what I'd asked for.

Both fathers did speeches, neither to embarrasing. We raised glasses and now for the important part - the cake cutting. OH MY GOSH, the cake was the best cake I have ever eaten, it was beautiful. We cut it, had pics and a nice CM cut pieces of cake for us.

Whilst we ate cake (marble with chocolate mousse) Melissa played the violin and took requests. My Dad asked for songs from the Lion King and MIL asked for Little Mermaid (for me, because everyone knows it's my fav Disney film ever). I was going to requet Jaws but I got a few looks so I didn't. The CM who cut the cake obviously miscounted how people there were, or perhaps someone told him just how much of a cake enthusiat I am. He cut 9 pieces instead of 8 so I got another piece.

Me eating the 2nd piece

The view on Commanders Terrace was beautiful and it was so sunny. We had more pics taken, In the mean time I took my shoes off. They hurt my poor feetsies. Cassie and Tanis apparently fell in love with him, they were deeply impressed by the fact that they smelt of sherbert (even after I'd been wearing them!)

4.30 arrived and it was time for cake cutting to end. Tanis left our present and extra bottle of champagne in a bag for us aswell as the top layer of cake. We said goodbye to Tanis, Cassie and Melissa and headed off for Park Fare.

Up Next: Bride steals Cindys thunder at Park Fare!

 

[taylor91]

I'm going to say it again, I am in love with your shoes Not quite sure if I said it in my head but anyway just wanted to make the point again
Your bridesmaid dresses are lovely, I love the colour and the style of them.
Back on your previous post that I did read but it must have been that early that I didn't comment?? Your dress is lovely, very princess like And i'm glad that your Dad liked his Mickey Mouse cuff-links...it was a Disney wedding after all...what more could he expect
Also the blue on your cake is gorgeous they definitely did a good job with that Looking forward to your next post.

 

[Fay]

Love all of the photos! You both look amazing!

Yay on being married!

xxx

 

[BethieTink]

Ruth,

Three fabulous updates!!!

Love the day at AK! Paul won't ride that one either. The first time I did, he knew the minute I walked off that I wanted to do it again. So, I can totally understand sneaking back in line for a second ride.

Love all the wedding pics! Cassie did a fabulous job! You look lovely! Glad that you loved "Part of Your World" for walking down the aisle. It is one of my favorites and I have been thinking of using it as well to walk down the aisle to. I even thank Paul in my vows for allowing me to be "part of his world".

Can't wait to see you upstage Cinderella!

 

[MrsDuck]

Look you beautiful!! Everything looks like it was amazing and I love love love your cake!

 

[DoomBuggy0922]

Oh, I love all of your pictures! You look gorgeous.

 

[virtuous girl]

Awww, ur hubby looks like he wanted 2 eat u alive when he waited 4 u down that aisle! i luv ur cake & SHOES!! yall look so happy