Tessa and Steve's DFTW 10/25/08***11/30 FINISHED THROUGH THE RECEPTION! :)

[Alarose]

So, I hope I can still consider my special day a Disney Fairy Tale Wedding even though it wasn't at Disney World. It was Disney Themed though! At the reception we had Cinderella Carriages on the tables and our wedding cake had Mickey Mouse ears and Cinderella glass slippers on it!

We ARE going to Disney World in January for our Honeymoon...but I guess I am getting ahead of myself... there WILL be a PJ about that in the near future...for now

I'm married! I LOVE being married (still in honeymoon stage lol ). I can't believe it has already been two weeks. My day was wonderful...perfect. Everything did not go perfect...but it was still perfect.

One thing I heard in one of the speeches at our reception is even though at that time it evident to everyone that Steve (my husband) and I loved eachother very much, our love will grow each day. It is true...even two weeks later I feel more drawn to him than I did on that special day.

Steve and I tried to be fairly old-fashioned. We didn't move in together until we were married, so this way of life is fresh and new to us. So far, everything is going wonderfully. We adjusted to each other's living styles easily so far. I KNOW (and I know many of you are thinking...just you wait) we will run into difficulty. We are expecting that. We are still in honeymoon stage. So far though, everything is going wonderfully! I don't remember ever being this happy.

Ok, so I promised awhile ago I would get on this. So…here I go.

You might want to skim over my planning journal

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1834285&page=1&highlight

I’ll give you a short summary though. Steve and I met April 2007 at an all-boys party that my friend and I crashed. My friend and Steve actually semi-dated for a few weeks, but it didn’t work out. She said Steve was too ‘nice,’ and she knew we would be perfect together. It took awhile, but they (our friends) finally got us together, and we have rarely been apart sense

We dated for over a year, and then on April 12 Steve took me out on a motorcycle ride and proposed out in the middle of a park. I laughed, I cried, I yelled yes, and jumped up in down. It was a wonderful day!

Ok…time for the fun stuff!

TO BE CONTINUED (soon...a few minutes)

 

[Alarose]

Whew...so far pictures aren't coming through too crazy...so ...here I go

October 24th, 2008/Rehearsal

Today was such a busy day! Actually, I felt more frazzled and crazy today than on the actually wedding day (did anyone else experience this?).

At 9:00, my mom, sister, a few aunts, my Fiancé, and I met up at the reception hall to decorate. We had the wedding reception at a wonderfully romantic place called The Barn. The Barn is a wonderful restaurant and reception hall. I felt extremely fortunate to get this place. Part of the reason we only had a 6 and a half month engagement was because The Barn had a cancellation for this weekend lol I’m sure some of you have experienced this before. Also, I love Halloween...having our wedding day so close to Halloween was also a perk.

Decorating went pretty well. I will post a few pictures below of the end result, but the basic plan was to have Cinderella carriages and candles spread throughout the hall. We also had small bells at each table and (of course) Dove Chocolate….it is a must! The chocolate…not necessarily the bells. Anyway, I was extremely pleased with the end result!

This is the picture of the barn before we decorated. As you can see, it wasn’t too hard to make this place look great because it already did.

Here is the crew that helped decorate (plus my mom who was taking the picture)

This is a picture of one of the Cinderella carriages/candles that we had on the tables. I couldn’t find a decent picture of just a candle, but I think you get the idea. They really turned out wonderfully

Here arre some pictures of the end result.

Steve and me sitting at the head table

So we finished decorating by 10:30 (about an hour and a half…not too bad). We went out for a quick lunch before I started my busy afternoon appointments. First, I had a nail appointment (manicure and pedicure). Then right after that I had my hair appointment (just a trim and wax. She also made up my hair very nice for the rehearsal). This kept me busy until at least 3:00 P.M., and by then a lot of people from my wedding party were showing up for the rehearsal, which was at 5:00 P.M.



THE REHEARSAL

The rehearsal went very well. We had it at our church and everything went very smoothly so we only did a couple of run-throughs. Right after the rehearsal we had the rehearsal dinner catered right at the church. I am SOOO glad we decided to do that. It was so handy being able to go right to the dinner right when we were finished with the rehearsal. Everyone was starving for one thing , and parents didn’t have to pack and unpack the kids. Here are a collection of photos from the rehearsal dinner.

This is a picture of dad walking me up the aisle…I felt more emotional during this time than I did on the actual wedding day lol

The pastor is giving us instructions about the ceremony

Here are the girls

And…here are the boys. It was pretty funny. During the second run-through, instead of standing in their ‘spots,’ all of the guys went to the back pew by the pulpit and they sat. They looked up hopefully at Steve and me and asked if this would be ok for the ceremony…we said NO! LOL

So, that was the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. I didn’t get any pictures yet from the rehearsal dinner, but if I do I will add them.

I also just have to add. After the rehearsal dinner a bunch of us when to a ’people-run’ haunted house. We had so much fun! We waited in line for a couple of hours, but really enjoyed ourselves. It was kind of a last-minute decision, but it was a good way to unwind without getting in trouble (going out…).


THE WEDDING DAY Part 1

General information;

We were married on October 25th, 2008

6 bridesmaids and 6 groomsmen (family and friends)

2 ring barriers (my nephew and one of Steve’s nephews)

Colors - purple (eggplant) and brown (wheat). As you could probably tell in the reception pictures, we worked wheat into a lot of the decorations. I love wheat…I love fall. Halloween is one of my favorite holidays.


THAT MORNING

I didn’t have to get up as early as I heard most brides got up…I rolled out of bed about 7:00 A.M. and my hair appointment was at 8:00 A.M.

TIP NUMBER 1! I got some advice from someone to get assistance with sleeping the night before the wedding. So many brides end up tossing and turning for hours because of nerves. I am SOO glad I did. I felt so riled up when I tried to settle down the night before, but within an hour of taking the sleeping pill I was out. This is the first time I’ve tried a sleeping pill, and I’m not planning on ever using one again, but I’m glad I had a full-night of sleep before our big day.

So, as I mentioned. My hair appointment was at 8:00. I don’t think I’ve mentioned this yet, but my hair stylist/make-up artist is also my personal attendant and much-loved cousin Ashlee. Ashlee also did 3 of my bridesmaids’ hair. She is a hair stylist. I’ve got to tell you it was extremely handy to have her around all-day! She constantly touched up my hair and make-up during the day when needed, and was in general a wonderful personal attendant (making sure I had everything I needed…watched to make-sure I wasn’t worrying too much about little things…that sort of thing). So, we had a wonderful time getting our hair done. Mom brought up plenty of coffee and yummy donuts. This was a great way to start out the day. Here are a collection of pictures from this morning ‘party.’

TO BE CONTINUED

 

[Alarose]

This my cousin/personal attendant/hair stylist/ make-up artist…Ashlee doing my hair. Ewwww…not liking my pictures without make-up.

This is Tiffany, my maid-of-honor, pretending to do my hair

Ashlee doing my make-up. Whew! Much better!

So, after I got my hair and make-up perfect (she did such a wonderful job!), I went up to the church where we had a ’dressing’ party. Everyone was there to help…my mom, my two- personal attendants (yes….I had two! First, just because I had so many friends and family I wanted to involve…but I found out later we actually needed those extra pairs of hands to get everyone ready), and all of my bridesmaids. They first helped me get ready because I was running a little late…about 45 minutes late. I was freaking out a little bit about this…a bit of a brideszilla…. but they got me ready in plenty of time.

Here are the pictures (finally! My wedding dress!)



Alright...finally! Pictures of me in my wedding dress!

This is a picture of them finishing up the ties on the back of my dress. I wish I could claim that adorable baby I am holding as mine, but that that is my personal attendant’s/good friend Tabitha’s little daughter Jadelynne. Also in the picture is my wedding planner, who also happened to be my florist and good family friend Pam (way left) and my sister Lesa who was my Matron of Honor (yes, I had a Maid and Matron of honor).

Next, Ashlee is putting on my tiara. Do you see my face…I am freaking out! Also in the picture is my sister Lesa playing with the butt of my dress (how embarrassing! lol), my mom who was trying to calm me, and my Maid of Honor Tifffany who was also trying to calm me.

Ashlee fixing my hair.

I’m finished! They let me look in the mirror and I barely recognize who I am looking at. I look much happier now! J

And…here is a picture of my babe all dressed and ready, and looking especially great holding that beautiful baby girl.

TO BE CONTINUED...a little later this afternoon. I promise. I hope you are enjoying so far

 

[Alarose]

If you were by chance reading through this while I was posting...you may want to go back and look at the pictures of us decorating at the barn. I totally forgot to post those and I just updated

 

[Alarose]

Ok...so I will continue now...

TIP NUMBER 2

We were taking pictures before the wedding ceremony. Now, I believe it was my sister who gave me this advice, but I was told to set some time aside just for you and your Fiancé’/ soon to be husband before the photographs. Otherwise when you go out for pictures, you two are just kind of thrown in together and barely get any time to talk. It is probably the last alone-time you will get before that night. I am so glad I did this.

So, after they had me completely ready, I had it set-up that Steve would wait in the church library for me. I first had Tiffany (my Maid of Honor) deliver a letter that I had written to him months ago), then I gave him about 5 or 10 minutes to read it before I come in. This was one of the most special times during the day. I will never forget his face when he saw me. It is probably the same face grooms used to get when they would see their bride the first time walking down the aisle. He was already crying from the letter when I walked in. He told me it helped get the tears out of his system (he didn’t shed a tear during the ceremony…he wasn’t sure how he would have held up). We just held each other for awhile and spent a few minutes talking. We walked out together to take the photographs.

Photographs

We had a WONDERFUL photographer named Katie. She had so many ideas, but listened to our requests and ideas. One thing that Steve and I did NOT want were all of the solo pictures that photographers take at wedding (just the groom, just the bride, bride and her family, groom and his family…). We let her take maybe one solo bride and groom picture, but that was it. Steve had trouble on his side of the family with his grandmother just posting pictures from his parents’ wedding with just Steve’s dad (leaving the bride out). We also thought so many people never choose these pictures. Anyway, Katie was wonderful.

Here are a few select pictures from that photo session.

Here is the one and only picture of the photographer Katie on the left. Did I mentioned before, she is 8 months pregnant. I was worried she was going to pop. Also, is my Maid-of-honor Tiffany all dolled up in the bridesmaid dress. They turned out wonderfully.

This is Steve walking up his nephew Micah (one of the ring barriers) hand-in-hand.

This is sister/Matron of Honor Lesa walking up her son Keaton. Also a ring barrier. Additionally in the photograph is another of my bridesmaids Brenda. She is a good friend from college.

Here is Steve and I posing for some pictures

Yes…I had to put a picture of the groom holding the bride’s flowers. It is a classic! J

After the pictures/before the ceremony

We grabbed a quick bite to eat. My parents provided everyone a small finger-food meal. We had about a half-an-hour before we had to hide from the guests in our designated rooms.

Here is a close up view of the flowers. They turned out better than I ever hoped for.

Yup…I had to sneak in another cute picture of Jadelynne.

The Ceremony

TO BE CONTINUED! I will try to get back to this tomorrow

 

[Alarose]

Ok...I'm done for the night. Wow, this is a lot of work! lol

One question though, can someone please tell me how to change the subject of my thrread (which now says Tessa and Steve's DFTW 10/25/08...). I like how people update in the title what they update in the thread...if that makes sense. Thanks for any help!

 

[DisneyMissy318]

Tessa! What a wonderful update! I love the Barn - what a beautiful place for a reception! I love the bodice of your dress - it's very different and becoming! Thanks for all of the pics - there can never be too many! (The baby is a cutie!) Can't wait to hear more about your day! (We too had a "disney-inspired" home wedding with a Disneymoon!)

 

[Alarose]

Tessa! What a wonderful update! I love the Barn - what a beautiful place for a reception! I love the bodice of your dress - it's very different and becoming! Thanks for all of the pics - there can never be too many! (The baby is a cutie!) Can't wait to hear more about your day! (We too had a "disney-inspired" home wedding with a Disneymoon!)

Thank you very much Missy! When I was trying on dresses and I tried on this one, it was 'the dress.' I knew it instantly. It helped hide part of my middle

There will be more coming tomorrow (I'm pretty sure I'll have time in the morning)

 

[nickandlarisa]

Ok...I'm done for the night. Wow, this is a lot of work! lol

One question though, can someone please tell me how to change the subject of my thrread (which now says Tessa and Steve's DFTW 10/25/08...). I like how people update in the title what they update in the thread...if that makes sense. Thanks for any help!

I love reading our wedding report, can't wait to see more pics. Another home wedding and Disneymoon bride here! Not sure if you got the answer to this yet, but go to the first post in your thread, go to edit, then go to "go advanced" and you can change the title of that first post, which is the title of your whole thread.

Congratulations, can't wait to see the rest!!

 

[Alarose]

Sry, we ran into a family thing yesterday, so I didn't have time to come and and continue. I will try ot get at this today after work.

Thank you Nick! I will try that later.

 

[Alarose]

Hey guess what! Our professional photographs are in...here is the link! There are a lot! I'm sure you won't want to look at the mall. I would recommend for sure looking at the outside photographs (towards the bottom). They came out wonderful!

http://sheawedding.photoherald.com/

The password is 102508 (wedding date).


I'm sorry I havn't gotten more posted on here yet. I am having trouble finding my password for imageshack to post the pictures. I have the write-up done. I've requested twice now to have them send my password to me. It should be on herre soon!

 

[Alarose]

The Ceremony

I’m not sure how many other brides experience this, but that last half hour moved SOO slow. I kept asking people what time it was for every two minutes. I was thankful that most of my bridesmaids waited with me in our private room. Sometimes I see bridesmaids running around right before the ceremony, and I needed the support.

So…it was time. A good friend of mine (Michelle) sang “The Rose” by Bette Midler while a few of my close family friends lit the candles at the front of the church. Then they played the ‘seating of the parents’ song, and my mother and mother-in-law went up to light the candles around the Unity Candle. I guess my mother-in-law got so shaky, she almost fell. This is her fourth son that has gotten married…you’d think she would be used to it by now lol jk.


The acolytes lighting the candles

Then my bridesmaids took off to meet ‘their’ groomsman to walk down the aisle. Before I knew it, my best friend and Maid of Honor Tiffany was heading down the aisle (and already in tears)…lastly, my Matron of Honor and Steve’s best man arm-in-arm with both of their sons (we decided to not even have the small boys try to walk down by themselves…it was adorable seeing them walk arm and arm with their parent in their little suites).

This is my sister-in-law Lisa and my future brother-in-law Mark

Then the music changed. Dad and I took off. Now, I just knew he would be saying goofy things as he walked down the aisle to help me relax. For my parent’s wedding, he turned to mom and asked, “I love your dress. Is it new???” For my sister’s wedding, he kept saying stuff like “not so fast, I paid a lot for this walk” and “I’m not up for jogging” because she was in such a ’hurry’ to get to her husband (she was going at an appropriate pace). As we were walking down the aisle, he said something like “if you start crying hysterically, I’ll pinch you,” which made me laugh. Then he said “come on, you have to cry a little bit for the effect…do you want me to pinch you.” Anyway, he is quite the dad, and I will always remember the short walk down the aisle.

As I first took off, I was looking at some of the people in the crowd, and then I saw Steve…and that is where my gaze locked. I remember my hand was trembling by the time I got down to him.

I’d like to think this was Steve ‘before he saw me”

Now, after!

Dad and I hugged (which made me cry…no, he didn’t even have to pinch me) and then dad put my arm in Steve’s and said “take care of my little girl”

Does anyone ever really listen to the pastor’s at their wedding? I just could not concentrate. I just kept smiling and looking at Steve. I watched the two ring-barriers from the corner of my eye (they were being pretty funny, ever once in awhile one of them would throw down their pillow or stick their tongue out at someone in the crowd).

Look at what our little guys were doing J

I held it pretty well together, until the vows. I cried again during the vows. My brother is a pastor, and we had him do the vows (and Steve’s pastor did the message)

This is a picture of my brother Steve (yes, my brother’s name is Steve and so is my husband’s...and if you caught it...my sister's name is Lesa and my sister-in-law's name is Lisa. Very confusing family now)

I don’t remember much of the message, but I’m sure it was good.

This is Steve’s pastor who gave the message

It was time for us to sign the marriage certificate. Luckily, I remembered to write my new name (anyone else worried about that?). Then it came for Steve and I to light the unity candle.

My brother (the pastor….the one who did the vows) got out his guitar an sang a song right from the front of the church. It was perfect! It was just a perfect ceremony.

Then it was the time that everyone really waits for. The pastor told us we could kiss.

Then the pastor announced us as husband and wife. Lots of cheering. I think Steve cheered too lol

Steve and I decided that we wanted to personally usher our guests from their pews instead of having a receiving line. I think it was a good choice. People could sit and wait to give us their congrats and hugs instead of standing in a line and talking with a bunch of people they might not have known (our 12 bridesmaids and groomsmen)

Then it was time for Steve and I to leave the church to go to the reception. We had dried rose pedals thrown on us.

We met the rest of our wedding party on the bus. We were going to stop at a historical plantation to take some pictures, and then off to the reception.

TO BE CONTINUED!

 

[padisneyfour]

You looked beautiful and so Happy! Your flowers looked so pretty! looking forward to seeing more!

 

[Alarose]

Thank you so much! I loved the flowers too! They came out even better than I hoped

 

[larryz]

A gorgeous bride with her handsome groom in a fairy-tale wedding. Very cleverly done, and you're going to love your honeymoon! Best wishes for a long and happy life together.

 

[Alarose]

Ok…I am so sorry I was MIA for so long. Between work and trying to get our apartment back together, I’ve been busy.

So…where was I? Oh yeah, after the wedding and taking more outside pictures. Now, did I mention that the wedding was in IOWA and it was October 25th, 2008...we really lucked out! It was beautiful out…sunny but a bit cold. I think it was in the 50s. We took some of my favorite outside pictures at the plantation. Again, you may want to go up to the link for our pictures JUST to look through the outside pictures. They really turned out wonderful! I don’t have any pictures of us taking pictures…but here are some bus pictures...

This is me waiting for the bus

This is the front of the bus from the outside

Here is the inside of the bus (sorry, another kissing picture)

That brings us now to the reception….

Reception

I’m sorry I did not get any pictures of the meal, but it was wonderful. We had noodles, beef tips, rice, and fruit cups. Wedding cake for dessert ! I’ll talk more about the cake in a bit. We were welcomed warmly as we walked in.

Then Steve and I headed to the cake. Ok, so I will admit. I wasn’t so thrilled with it at first…it just wasn’t what I pictured. Is this a problem for many brides? The Mickeys were supposed to be an off-white, and they came off almost yellow. I also wanted the purple flowers to be more ‘viney.’ Within the half hour though, I liked it again lol. I heard so much about the cake. Everyone loved it! I heard so many times (I didn’t realize those were Mickeys until someone pointed it out to me)…which is just what I wanted.

The cake was also very yummy! We had different flavor options. We had white cake with Bolivarian cream, white without Bolivarian Cream, Chocolate with raspberry filling, chocolate without raspberry filling, and (my favorite) Carrot Cake! There was something for everyone. The lady who baked our cake was WONDERFUL!

Alright, now for the cake cutting.

TIP NUMBER THREE! Now, I wish someone would have told me this, but Steve and I both kind of wished we would have practiced the feeding each other thing. We didn’t do horribly, but for a second there I thought he was going to try to do the cake smearing thing, but he wasn’t doing it on purpose. He said the same for me. It was just acquired. Fun though!
The meal went very well. I wasn’t able to eat too much, because I was so wound up. What I did eat tasted good though. Same with the cake…I was only able to have a few bites. Is that why the top is saved for the Bride and Groom for their first year anniversary…because they can’t properly enjoy it on their day? LOL

Now, it was time for the toasts, and we had some excellent ones! LOL, Steve got the advice from his brother-in-law to “when in doubt, nod.” and my maid-of-honor’s advice was to “Never give in.” They were great. I wish I had some pictures of them speaking, but here is one of our toast.

We had plenty of time after we were eating to do some visiting. Steve and I floated from table to table speaking with guests for a few minutes before moving on. This felt almost like a job. Throughout the night I kept going to college my husband to go ‘visiting.’ There were so many people and so little time.

It was so hard because there were so many people there I really wanted to spend some time with. Some of my college friends that I haven’t seen for over a year were there, and I barely got to sit down with them. They enjoyed seeing each other for the entire night though LOL. The said it will be my turn to hang out during on of their other weddings.

So, then the dance started. We started out with our slow dance song. ‘Echoes of Eden,’ by Steven Curtis Chapman. Sadly though, no one got a good picture of Steve and I dancing. Also, our first-dance song was kind of ruined. The DJ was confused and turned the music off half-way through the song. I almost cried…it was a wonderful first-half though.

Then it was the mother/son and father/daughter dance. We did both at the same time. We danced to “I Hope You Dance.” By Shania Twain. This was a very memorable dance. Steve and his mom enjoyed themselves…and I will always remember my dance with dad. About a verse into the song we noticed my little niece Lola looking at us, so we invited her in. It was the sweetest.

Steve and my mother-in-law

Dad, Lola, and me J

Then came to the ‘real’ dancing. Oh, we had so much fun! Both of our families are dancers. Also, the floor was full of kids, and that is always fun. Here is a collection of pictures.

Here is a great picture showing how many nieces and nephews we had on the floor.

As you can tell, Lola was having no fun!

Getting jiggy with it.

Now, time for the next half of the nights entertainment. Karaoke! ‘Woot woot!’ I LOVE Karaoke, and this really was a big hit. We were worried that the change in the DJ dance music would clear the floor, but everyone kept going. Here are some pictures…

Here are my bridesmaids and me singing “Girls just want to have fun”

Now, I am singing Martina McBride’s “My Baby Loves me just the way I am.”

It really was a wonderful day and night. I am going to say again…not everything thing perfect, but it was still a perfect day!


But…we were getting tired…

It was a long day…and Steve and I made our getaway about 11:00 P.M. We tried to do so quietly…but we were followed out by hooting and hollering. The party maybe lasted another 15 minutes before the DJ shut down the music by playing ‘Hit the road jack.” It was a great end to a wonderful day…well, almost….

TO BE CONTINUED! The Mini-Honeymoon!

 

[Alarose]

A gorgeous bride with her handsome groom in a fairy-tale wedding. Very cleverly done, and you're going to love your honeymoon! Best wishes for a long and happy life together.

Thank you very much. I am SOO excited for January to get here!

 

[Alarose]

Mini-honeymoon!

Honeymoon night

After we left the reception Steve and I were dropped off at our hotel. We were staying at hotel fairly close to the reception hall. We had someone go there earlier to check us in already, so we could go right up to the room.

I loved the hotel room. We were staying in a themed room…Fur-traders Suite. LOL…it might not have been my first choice, but it was the best out of the ones they had left. I did not get any pictures, but it was pretty fun.

I will say one thing through…I got hurt. Yup, my back went out on the night of our honeymoon. It really stunk! Now, before you go jumping to conclusions…honestly, we were just sitting on the bed and Steve was helping me take out the bobby pins out of my hair. He asked me to scoot back a bit so I pushed myself back and “POP!” I felt it right away! OWWWEY! It wasn’t too horrible right at that moment. I was worried what I would be like in the morning.

Thus, at 3:00 A.M. I woke up MISERABLE. I wasn’t able to get back to sleep. I was crying. Steve tried to help by popping and rubbing my back, but to no avail nothing helped. Our honeymoon! Why on our honeymoon! We were supposed to leave on Sunday for our resort for a couple of nights (through Tuesday)

I made a SOS call to my parents early the next morning (that was a surprise for them hearing from us). It was a Sunday remember, so nothing was open. Luckily, mom got a hold of a friend who does Massage Thearpy…she was actually at the wedding the night before. She opened up her office for me and gave me a 45 minutes message. What a life saver! I was ready to give her all of our wedding money! It didn’t quite ‘fix’ me, but I felt much better. She wouldn’t take any money from us though. She just felt so bad…she wouldn’t even let me tip her.

So, I wasn’t quite fixed, but I was better…so off Steve and I went to Dubuque for our honeymoon.

Here is a picture of us in the car…see how my head is crooked…not doing that on purpose lol

We were staying at the Dubuque Grand Harbor Resort and Water park. We decided to splurge on the room too, which ended up not being as expensive as we had first thought. We ended up paying under $400 total for the room and water park tickets for a Harbor View Suite. It was a beautiful Suite! I’ve never stayed in such a nice room before. It had a large room with a living room and a mini bar. Then the master bedroom was separated through some large French doors. We have never slept in such a wonderful bed before…so comfy! My favorite part of the Suite though, was the bathroom. HUGE Jacuzzi tub and large shower.

Here are the pictures of our room and resort. I’m sorry I didn’t get any pictures of our water park.

Here is a picture of the outside

The living room and bar

Here is the master bedroom.

And my favorite…the bathroom

Day 1, Sunday October 26th
When we arrived at the hotel, we had a gift basket waiting for us from my sister. It was full of Champaign, drinks, chocolate, and candles. What a wonderful idea! We brought along plenty of drinks (party for two the entire weekend lol).

Again, I was hurt. It wasn’t much of a ‘honeymoon’ in that sense for that first day/night for Steve (poor guy!). He was so wonderful to me though. He took care of me. We bought a heating pad and ice pack and he made sure I did one or the other every other 20 minutes or so. I felt so bad, but he helped keep my spirits. We did make at least three trips down to the hot tub, and that helped SOO much! We ordered in pizza the first night and watched a movie. Except to go to the hot tub, we never left the hotel room. The first day was still very wonderful, even though I wasn’t feeling very well. We talked a LOT about our day.

I prayed that night that I would feel better the next day.

Day 2, Monday October 27th

Alleluia! That morning I woke up feel much better! I was still pretty stiff in the morning, but by 10:00 I was pretty good. We made a trip down to the water park by noon and went on some of the water slides that Steve was dieing to go on. It really was a wonderfully romantic day. Steve lit the candles that we got from my sister and we made use of the party bar. We spent a few hours opening up the cards that we received at the wedding (which was very fun). We went out for dinner at a very romantic restaurant that night. It was wonderful day!

Day 3, Tuesday October 28th

We had an 11:00 checkout, but the management took pity on us because I was hurt that first day so they extended our checkout till 1:00 which was very sweet! We didn’t leave the hotel room until we had to that day. By the time it was time to go home, we were ready though. We were excited to enter ‘our apartment’ and start our lives together.

Concluding remarks about the honeymoon

I wish I wouldn’t have gotten hurt, but what happened, happened. It was still a wonderful mini-honeymoon. Steve and I both wish we had a few more days to spend together before we got back into ‘real life.’ We are planning on returning to that exact hotel room at least a few times in the future. We hope to bring our family to the hotel for the water park (not in that suite though…the wouldn’t appreciate it as much lol). We made some wonderful memories…

But…we are excited about our REAL honeymoon…which is now only a little more than a month away! DISNEY WORLD! We will be there on our honeymoon from January 8th-15th. I am sooo excited! Steve has never been and I haven’t been there for years. I will tell more about it later though…in our pre-trip report. I’ll come and post the link here when I have it finished. I may have time today yet


Thank you for reading!

 

[Alarose]

My pre-trip report is started! Here is the link

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2022382