Samantha and Wes's Magical Disney Escape 08.09.10 - Last thoughts about our Trip!

[bellaminnie]

i can't wait to see pics when you get back. i just found your tread and just read the whole thing. I want to see how the ceremony turned out at the wedding gazebo, I’m considering that location myself.

Congratulations! Hope you are having the time of your life!

 

[BecBennett]

 

[TinkLoverSam]

Hey all thanks for the well wishes!!! Our day was fantastic and we had the best time. We are in Disney for another week and then I hope to have some pictures and dining reports for you all. We are having a fantastic trip even if it is HOT!

 

[Boardwalk_bride]

Ahh, so sorry I missed saying "Happy Wedding Day"! I'm glad to hear you had a great day, and I am looking forward to seeing your pics!

 

[TinkLoverSam]

Just got into YYC and will post a report and pics tomorrow when I have a bit of a chance to get settled!

 

[Disney9.9.10]

Can't wait!!

 

[TinkLoverSam]

Glad I Did

V&As Chef's Table
I am so glad we did the Chef's Table at Victoria and Albert's for the wedding dinner. The food was so fabulous and the servers Jack and Shirley were great. I had requested the Glass Slipper Sorbet and was told that they probably couldn't do it but they would try... well course 8 or 9 came out and it was glowing ice slippers One of the best moments of the dinner.

Wedding Gazebo at the Yacht Club
It was the perfect size for us and the gardens around the gazebo were beautiful, plus being able to walk downstairs to the wedding was perfect, no need to worry about any transportation issues.

Jiko for the rehearsal dinner
Jiko was fantastic, we did not have a private room but they gave us one large table in a more private area of the restaurant so we didn't disturb too many of the other diners with our camera crew.

Used the Mom's Panel
I got so many helpful answers and a new friend out of using the mom's panel to do a little research on restaurants. It also introduced me to the online Disney community including these boards It also got me a few new experiences when they decided to do a feature on the wedding including an interview with Doug live and in person (yes they flew him down so I got to meet, more on this later) and a Dessert party!

Had a Noon Wedding
With as much hair as I have hair and makeup arrived at 8am for my sister and I and Patricia even added on an assistant after the trail. We had a chance get a little sleep that morning and breakfast which was good as we didn't have another meal planned until dinner at 5:30 that night!

Had a Hair Trial
When Patricia showed up and was a little unprepared for how much hair I actually have at the hair trial I was sooo glad I had booked a trial with her as she was able to find an assistant to come with her on the wedding day to help with my sister and I's hair.

Had an In-Park Birdal Shoot
I LOVE how my pictures turned out from the shoot especially the AK ones and I am sooo glad I got the opportunity to have the shoot as it is one of my favourite memories... once the photographer found us (more details on that later!)

Wish I Didn't

Try to make sure the in-laws were happy as much.
I really wanted the trip to be a chance to get to know them a little better and hang out with them in a fun environment, it turned out they only came in 2 days before the wedding, did their own thing a lot and didn't seem to want to see us and cancelled breakfast the day after the wedding on their departure day as they didn't think they'd be up in time... so much for goodbyes!

That's really my one regret!

Wish I Did

Booked a Private Party at Rose and Crown
We just had two tables booked for 8 people each and the bills got very messed up.Dinner there was Saturday night and it was Tuesday before we had the bills sorted out!

 

[TinkLoverSam]

I got the email with our pictures the day we were leaving Orlando!

So Wes and I sat in MCO going through our photos before we boarded our flight home

http://www.collages.net/disneyweddings

Henry / Mathieson Wedding
1971

I LOVE our Animal Kingdom photos I think they are all fantastic!

 

[daisygirl902]

Awesome start - great to have you back (although I'm sure you wish you were still there).

I LOVE your pics!! They turned out fantastic!

Congrats

 

[tinkerbell 766]

What a lovely and unusual set of pictures - you must be so thrilled with them!!
You looked absolutely beautiful!!
Many congratulations!!

 

[DisneyDiva84]

OH my gosh! Those castle pics are amazing! Congrats again!

 

[CinderelliT]

Beautiful! I love how the detail on your dress matches the awnings at your ceremony site. My favorite pics are of you on the settee, and of the two of you in the walkway in the castle. Gorgeous.

Who were your photographers?

Congratulations!!

 

[shippedtosea]

so so beautiful! They came out great. Everything looked so nice!

 

[TinkLoverSam]

Beautiful! I love how the detail on your dress matches the awnings at your ceremony site. My favorite pics are of you on the settee, and of the two of you in the walkway in the castle. Gorgeous.

Who were your photographers?

Congratulations!!

The fact that the awnings were red and white was a clinching detail in us picking the Gazebo for our wedding. I loved that they went with my colours! Plus the heart cutouts in the Gazebo match the ones in my engagement ring and we knew it was the perfect place for us.

I also love the settee pictures, we had Stephanie for the wedding (although Randy set up that shot as he was the primary photographer but I don't have my photos from him yet) and we had Mike for the MK/AK shoot.

 

[TinkLoverSam]

OH my gosh! Those castle pics are amazing! Congrats again!

Thank you!

 

[TinkLoverSam]

so so beautiful! They came out great. Everything looked so nice!

Thanks! We had a blast and everything was gorgeous! I'm so glad they got a picture of the hats and my fans (though you can't see the hidden mickeys on the fans)

 

[neener3]

I loved your pictures! You looked gorgeous!

I'm always so happy to see beautiful Disney Photography pics because that's the route we're going. Thanks for letting us all see!

 

[Disney9.9.10]

Hey Sam!
Your pictures are all beautiful!! It looks like you had a wonderful day, and your wedding was beautiful. Your reviews were also very helpful, thank you for posting everything! I cannot wait to see/read more!

 

[TinkLoverSam]

We flew overnight out of Calgary to Montreal and then Montreal to Orlando. We had ended up booked on the same flight from Montreal to Orlando as my parents so we saw them at customs in Montreal and hung out with them at the airport until the flight and then we drove with them to their hotel The Sheraton Vistana Villages where I had booked them a 2 bedroom suite at a staff discounted rate and from there on to the Yacht Club!

I was soo excited when we pulled into the Yacht Club driveway and I saw the bellman's outfits. They're dressed as sailors and I thought they were soo cute. We chatted with one of the lobby greeters while we waited in the longish line for the front desk and showed her our custom disney tees with Bride and Groom and the wedding date on them. She excused herself for a moment and then told us to follow her over to the concierge desk where we were checked in. I was so happy to be there we were finished the check-in process before I remembered to ask if we had gotten our request for a king size bed. She said yes and directed us up to our room on the 4th floor after giving us both Happily Ever After and Just Married pins.

We get upstairs and I change into shorts and we are about to leave to go to the international gateway to exchange our vouchers for APs and get our TiW card when my mom says "that's not a king size bed" we all stop and look at it and she's right, it's a queen.

We decide to stop at the concierge desk to mention it and go to the Crew's Cup lounge for a quick bit and a drink before we go to the IG.

When we get to the desk another cast member says she can help us though we were content to wait for the cast member who checked us in. We tell her we just wanted to mention that upon check in we asked if we got a king size bed and were told yes but the room has a queen and a day bed. The cast member nastily asks us how many beds are in the room and we say one and a day bed and she says "if there's only one bed in the room it's a king" I said "ok thanks, it's a queen but thanks for your help".

A few minutes later we were in the lounge having a drink when the original cast member (I think her name was Leigh or something but I forget... bad DISer!) came into the bar and apologized, she said she had found us a new room with a king size bed and a better view than the original room we would just need to move our luggage or call bell services from the room to move it. She gave us our new keys and told us to take our time moving.

Our new room was on the 3rd floor 3143 and it looked out onto the exit where you go down to the boat dock. It was a king size bed and the view was much better than the last one.

We split up with my parent to relax before meeting up for dinner at 6:55 at Kouzzina for dinner with them.

We really enjoyed Kouzzina. The food was good and the restaurant was beautiful if a little loud. Our server was a hoverer and followed the script a bit too much for my family, we need our servers to relax and allow us to relax but he kept a little too close the whole meal.

We started with the Kouzzina Spreads and then I had the Cinnamon Stewed Chicken, DH had the Oak Fired Pork T-Bone, my mom had the Whole Fish, and my dad had the Slow Cooked Lamb Shank. None of us really enjoyed the spreads, the flavours were a little weird as each had something extra in it that changed the flavours from normal to a little different. We did all really enjoy our mains as the flavours were good as was the wine we enjoyed. After that it was time to get some sleep as Wes and I had been up for over 24 hours with only a little nap on the planes.

 

[TinkLoverSam]

I forgot when we returned to our room after dinner we got a call that we had forgotten a pink bag at bell services. I was sure we had all of our bags but the bellman suggested they bring it and I could see if it was mine. I said ok and they brought up a pink bag that said Disney Mom's Panel. It had a few goodies in it.

These included fast passes that we used to get onto Soarin and Test Track during EMH that night.

~edit~ When we came back to the room after riding Soarin there was one more gift in our room that night

4 Tuxedo Chocolate covered strawberried and a white chocolate Mickey Mouse!

Day 2

We had a bit of an early morning this morning as we had to go pick up our rental car get the marriage license. We did start the day with breakfast at Cape May Cafe. The breakfast pizza here was amazing and the brioche french toast was awesome as well. We had a lot of good character interaction with Donald, Minnie and Goofy.

We were given a cupcake and a card signed by all the characters for our Happily Ever After

We then went and got the car at the Dolphin and got the marriage license. I had my hair and makeup trial that afternoon and Patricia found out how long my hair actually is so she called in an assistant to help her do my sister and I's hair on the wedding day and then Wes and my Mom and Dad and I went to dinner at Les Chef's de France. We and I had had a reservation at 5pm but we added 2 ppl to it and puched it back to 6 as Patricia was still doing my hair.

Les Chef's De France was awesome!
We all ordered the Prixe Fixe Menu, my Dad had the bleu salad, the short ribs and the profiteroles, Wes had the onion soup, the short ribs and the creme brulee, my mom had the lobster bisque, the salmon and the profiteroles and I had the lobster bisque, the chicken and the profiteroles. We also ordered some amazing wine helped by both our server and a friend of his when my dad asked about some wine that he was unfamiliar with.

The service here was fantastic, our server was attentive without being overbearing and very knowledgeable.