Wendy I am so glad you had a wonderful anniversary; you first anniversary is really special so its important you did something romantic to mark the special occasion. I find that time is flying by; its hard for me to believe I have already been back 5 wees and been married almost 2 months!
V & A was beautiful and Im glad my mom didnt come. I dont think she would have enjoyed the food and although she might have enjoyed the experience, it was more appropriate that it was just Steven and I; it was so romantic.
mla1977 Oh, I definitely recommend trying V & A, for us it was a once in a lifetime thing, it wouldnt bother me to not go back again, but the occasion warranted something spectacular, and V & A certainly pushed the right buttons.
The cheese course, well, I obviously didnt appreciate it as you can see. I have never loved cheese, but I do like some, Bavarian Smoked Cheese is my favorite, but that is mild and cheap! I think if the Savarin hadnt been so aged it would have tasted better, but probably not by much for me.
Hayley Definitely try V & A, Im sure you would really like it. The food really is top quality and if you love seafood, then Im sure all of the seafood items would please you. Its pretty expensive but I recommend having the Chefs menu in the main dining room if you can. $165 per person, not including alcohol, but you get to try everything, well worth it if it may be your only visit to V & A.
AinWonderland The meal was very filling. It didnt start out looking to promising, but as the courses kept coming, we realised how full we were. The Chefs menu is a lot of food, but I wanted to try all the offerings, as I knew if I was to stick to the normal menu I would shy away from seafood and things like foie gras.
D&R love Disney Thank you. I was so determined to try everything. We were paying a lot and I didnt want to put loads of restrictions on what we would eat. We have never tried caviar, shrimp, foie gras, Kobe beef, salmon, or quail egg and I am sure there was much more I hadnt sampled. But, we both knew the kinds of food we would be served and as we werent specifically paying and asking for it, it seemed only right that we tried it. If we didnt like it, then no harm done, on to the next course, lol.
MickeyAnne Hi, how are you? Nice to see you again. Thats right I am well into my TR, glad youre enjoying it. Thank you for the compliments, my wedding was spectacular and its thanks to boards like this. I swear I found out so much from here before the wedding. Some of my best decisions were based purely on things I saw or heard about from the boards.
helloirishkitty Thank you very much for the compliments. I was so upset that I was so full by the time of the chocolate course. I had been looking forward to it but I really had to push myself to eat any of it. The ice cream was beautiful as was the Tanzanian pyramid, but Im sure I could have eaten more of the Soufflé if it had came earlier. Would you go back again, or was it a once in a lifetime thing for you too?
Denise It was an evening to remember, from start to finish our wedding day was wonderful, I dont think I would have wanted it to end any other way. The photos with Randy were the perfect end to a somewhat surreal day.
DisneyObsession V & A was great and I would recommend for anyone that hasnt tried it to do so, it certainly is worth it, at least once. I was so surprised that Randy hadnt tried it yet, I mean I would have thought he would have been curious, but I think he works so much I dont know if he would ever have the time for it.
My MK Shoot is up next, with loads and I mean loads of pictures.
Michelle Steven had the same view. He is very picky at times when it comes to food and often wont go out of his comfort zone. I was really happy he gave this a go and I think he was pleasantly surprised. However, I see your point, if you really dont like the sounds of the food I described, and believe me I described them as best I could as I had no pictures, then I wouldnt waste your money on it. The experience was fantastic, but I wouldnt pay that just for the experience. To be honest, there were other restaurants that were just as terrific as V & A, food wise and the setting was more to our taste or comfort.
We really felt special here and it was a wonderful feeling on our wedding day, but we have no intentions of going back again.
The studying is going well, thanks for asking, its just taking a lot more time than I ever dreamed, and Im annoyed that I cant dedicate as much time anymore to my TR.
DisneyLaura The foie gras surprised me, I really liked it but I think it went really well with the apples. On its own? Im not sure if I would have liked it as much.
The applause at the end was weird; we didnt know where to look or what to do. Steven is not one for public displays so he was like a deer caught in headlights, but throughout our vacation he began to get used to the attention and actually began to like it. The Just Married badges became an important addition to his clothing, and at one point kissed the badges for the pixie dust it brought us.
I am putting up loads of the MK pictures in my next instalment.
MUDisneyCouple V & A required all that detail. I mean the obviously put so much time and love into their creations, most of the time it was like eating a work of art.
The studying is hard going, I am just beginning my second year of Law school and in my first year, I managed to maintain a 1st. I didnt have as much to do in my first year, so I managed to study a lot. However this year, I seem to be busy all the time. I have come to the end of my Forensic Diploma that I was studying on the side but I still have some loose ends to tie up. I also have my Higher National Certificate in Health Studies to pick up shortly for when I dabbled in Nursing. I know, I took an entirely different route. I hated Nursing, it wasnt the career I had hoped it would be, so I left and decided to pursue Law, something I had always wanted to do. My grades in Nursing gave me the confidence to do it and now I feel so much happier. Its much harder, but I enjoy it immensely. I just think Im struggling at the moment with scheduling conflicts; I never was good at stuff like that. Long spiel I know, but thanks for asking!
DisneyL8T Thank you for joining in. I know my updates arent coming in as quickly as I would have liked but Im hoping that now that Im past the wedding, I may be able to produce more, (not as much resizing pics to do) believe me it takes so much time to do this! Im pleased you are enjoying it.
Rain I have heard that Citricos and Narcoosees have wonderful reviews and I dont think you would go wrong with either of them. I looked at the Narcoosee menu though and noticed it was mainly seafood so shied away from it, however, I think I would be more willing to try it now.
I loved the applause, although at the time I was really weirded out by it. The attention we got throughout our whole vacation was spectacular and Im sure it is one of the most fun honeymoon spots ever, complete strangers even took the time to talk to us because of those badges, it was fantastic!
traceycooper We booked V & A 6 months in advance and I had them note my request for the Chefs menu. I called up a week in advance to remind them of our request. The set menu was $166 per person, not including alcohol or soft drinks. The menu changes all the time, so you dont know what is going to be available until you are there. However you can get a fair idea of the types of food available by the reviews. There are some things I have seen on the menu stay year after year. The good thing about the Chefs menu is you get to try it all. This way if you dislike something, its no big deal; you can put it aside and wait for the next course. You can of course let the Chef know if you are allergic or have a dislike for something in particular and he wont include it in your menu. You cannot specifically ask for something not on the menu though, it is set and everyone gets the same menu bar your own personal restrictions.
I hope that helps.
pjstevens Thank you, the meal was amazing, very special for our wedding night. I am putting up my new instalment today, with loads of pictures.
angel*lady Definitely try it, once in a lifetime thing for us but as you live in Florida, you could probably go back a few times. I cant believe you havent tried it already!!! I see my descriptions worked well for you, glad I could let you imagine the food porn!
Kirsteen I still havent managed to get my dress predicament sorted. I am going to write another letter over the next few days and give her seven days notice and take it from there. I hope your dress fitting went well, I havent been on the Dis much so I havent had a chance to catch up on your PJ.
My studies are going well, but its taking so much time away from everything else, I hope I can catch up at some point.
MistressOfAllEvil Checking up on me I see, well Im back, for now anyway! Anyway, I didnt see my mom until the next morning, so Im afraid you will have to wait a little bit longer to find out what became of her while we were at V & A, but believe me, its hilarious!
You know what I mean though about being stressed to the gills, its not easy; I dont have enough hours in the day to what I need to do. Have they not invented some kind of drug to keep you up all night? Ah, thats right, caffeine; I wondered why I was shaking so mmmmmuuuuuuucccccchhhhh!
poohface I know its hard to believe as we got so many pictures taken. But I also hate getting my picture taken. It depends on the pose, but I hate smiling in pics as I think it makes my face look fat. As you can see most pics are with me not smiling. I also hate when my hair is going frizzy etc, etc. Im a bit of a perfectionist in everything I do and I think its why I dont like pictures as I analyse the pictures and become really critical. Luckily I am happy with the majority of pictures I got, even our own holiday snaps are pretty good because U deleted all the rubbish ones, thank god for digital cameras! Randy was brilliant and made me really feel at ease, he is definitely the photographer to get as he takes his time with you.
Tracey You are right, Randy is the best. He also met us at GF to give us our pics. Have you started a TR? I may have missed it, as I havent been on. I want to use Randy the next time we are in Disney too, his prices are wonderful and you really get value for money.
I know what you mean about other photographers, its really hard not to compare other photographers to Randy, the other weddings Ive been to, well theres just no comparison. Randy is consistently fantastic. Every photo I have seen with all the other brides are amazing.
Wendy Thanks for the compliments on the pictures, more is coming up.
D&R love Disney I wasnt as pleased with the night shots as I expected to be but I think I had too much expectations. I mean Randy cant work miracles, although it sometimes seems he can. We werent close enough to the fireworks but there isnt much we could have done. However I do love the pictures beside the WP and some of the firework ones I do love. Plus my hair wasnt cooperating again and that kind of upset me. All in all though I am happy with most of them and the more I look at them the happier I am.
DisneyLaura - Answers at the end of this massive post
DisneyObsession I really like that Randy changes the focus of so many of his pics, I can tell he loved my flowers; he took so many pics of them.
You should definitely book Randy whether or not you have a VR, although having one would be wonderful, you need to work on your husband for that! His prices are really reasonable and you can have him do the shoot anywhere but a Disney park, you could choose your favorite resort even, the list is endless.
HarbinsMom Thank you, the MK Shoot pics, I absolutely love, very worth the extra dollars. I did love my bouquet and Randy had said it was one of his favorite ones. Calla lilies are my favorite flower so I knew straight away they were the flowers for me, choosing the color was not as easy though, which is why in the end I went with an assortment.
IloveChip Thank you, I really love the ones on the path too, the lighting was perfect and we managed to get quite a few good ones there. We really did have a Disney Fairytale Wedding and I would recommend it to anyone planning to get married, it really was a dream come true.
shasess You read the whole thing? How long did that take you? I applaud you, seriously! I am so glad you are enjoying it, I bet youre glad Ive slowed down my instalments? Thank you for the compliments. There is so much more pixie dust to come, my eyes are still stinging from it.
Rain Thank you. Ha, ha, I know what you mean, you must be pretty frustrated that my instalments have slowed down, unlike shasess, she must be tired of reading by now. I am putting up the next instalment now, and I will have finished the wedding pics totally and it will be on to the honeymoon finally.
Hayley Answer to your question will be at the end of this post
MadamMim LOL, you printed that pic out? That will please Steven, he hates the fact he is acting stupid in it, you mean Im not?
Thanks for the compliments on my eye make-up. I love cosmetics and I have taken years to perfect my eye make-up and Im quite happy with how I do it now. I have had some horrors in the past, like purple, pink and green, and yes, all at the same time. But I think I have finally cracked what suits me.
I do my make-up like this all the time, even if its just to go to the shop, I cant help it, I feel naked without it.
Okay now that has to be one of the longest responses in history to everyone. I am looking at my screen and its indicating 6 pages worth, YIKES.
Anyway, as you can all probably see, my ticker says I am moving to Canada, and yes, it is true. We are moving to Toronto to be specific. As some of you know we had planned on going to Australia within the next 2 years, but since we came back from the US, I realise how much I love it there. Australia is so far away and I would be leaving behind my mother, brother and grandparents here. And I know in my heart that I would be very unlikely to return as not only do I not like flying, but I also do not like Aberdeen so other than my family I have no reason to return.
Toronto is great, it is so close to the US, there are loads of things to do, its a huge city and it caters to the city girl that I am and always have been. Its safe and the opportunities are endless there. Plus its such a beautiful country.
I have contacted a College and I intend to start a course in January 2009. I will then hopefully move on to do my Law Conversion course at The University of Toronto and practice here. I am really excited about this, as it has presented a lot more opportunities for both Steven and I.
We are currently decorating our house from top to bottom to maximise our profits when we sell and hopefully we can land in Canada with some savings.
Unfortunately, coming to this decision means that we cannot go to Disney next year as I had hoped. I am so sorry Hayley as I know we were going to be on the same plane to go. I am upset about not getting to go, but it would be financially irresponsible for us to do this and it would set us back indefinitely. 2 weeks in Disney does not make up for a new beginning in Canada, no matter how good the vacation is.
We will definitely go back but it may not be until 2009, who knows though, if we get over with more savings we may be able to squeeze in a Christmas visit to the mouse next year, but Im not banking on it.
We are both extremely excited about this and we have a very busy year ahead of us. Our families dont know for definite yet, but they know we were planning on moving, just not so soon.
So thats it, my big news explained, and you know what this means? More
Disney vacations in the future; after all its only a 48 hr drive from Toronto