Trip Report - Disney Wedding and Honeymoon

[disneyheaven]

Hi everyone!!!
Well, it's official...My sweetie and I are married!!!! Our Disney wedding was what wedding dreams are made of (well alright, we had our bumps in the road on the big day - I will let you know all about the limo, or lack there of, later in the report ) But besides the unexpected occurances that happen on everyones wedding day, it was absolutly magical. I cannot even begin to tell you the feeling I had as I stood beside the love of my life up on the alter of the Wedding Pavilion, looking out at Cinderella's Castle across the lagoon about to say my wedding vows. It was a moment in my life that I will never soon forget. It was worth every penny, every effort, and every pain-in-the-neck hastle of planning a destination wedding!! I have so much to tell (but I dont know if I can post pictures yet, or if I know how) so I will do the best I can to tell our story.

Here is goes: Thursday, August 17th, 2006
We had been looking forward to this day for almost 2 years now. That wonderful day, August 17th. Everytime I made an itinerary, it started with August 17th. Everytime I talked about my trip and when I was leaving, it started with August 17th. Everytime I got stressed at work, over the little things in life, I would say to myself, "It's ok! I am leaving for our Disney wedding and honeymoon on August 17th! I can handle this!" It was one of those mysterious dates in life that felt like it would never ever arrive.....and then one day...just when you least expect it....it does! Ready or not, packed or not, it came! It was such a surreal feeling when the day finially arrived!! The day started..umm...let me see...when was it again?! Oh right 3 IN THE MORNING! Ohh no....we were not up that early because of an early flight, no no no. I remember rolling over at 3am and Mark was looking at me through the dark with these big, sad, puppy dog eyes. In my half asleep, groggy voice, I uttered, "Oh my god what's wrong?" My poor baby answered, "I think I have an ear infection" Now for a normal guy, this would be no real big deal...but you have to understand Mark. He was born with terrible terrible ear problems. He spent the first 2-3 years of his life almost deaf. When he was a toddler, he had to go to speach because he never learned to talk properly because of all his hearing problems. Thankfully, the problem never lead to anything serious, and with the exception of the occassional, "Heh? What'd ya say??" and the pain of flying, he is a-ok! So whenever I rolled over and heard him say something about an ear infection, I knew we had to take care of this ASAP! We got right up, threw on some clothes, and headed to the emergency room. We were the only ones there, so we were seen immediatly! (Helps to have medical problems in the middle of the night! None of this mid-day stuff! You get terrible service that way! Hahahahha ) So after a quick look in Mark's ear, the doctor confirmed that he had a massive ear infection in his left ear. The doctors words of reassurance..."Well, it is definatly an ear infection. I know it hurts, especially with your past of ear troubles, but hey just think. At least your not flying on a plane anytime soon! Now that would hurt!" To which Mark and I looked at each other, laughed, and said, "Umm...we will be on a plane in 12 hours" The doctor's response? "Ha! Good luck!" So, here we were, now about 4:30am, leaving for our Disney wedding in a matter of hours, at the local 24 hour CVS picking up loads and loads of antibiotics, drops, etc to help make this flight as peaceful as possible for the groom-to-be. And as a worried bride-to-be, I couldn't help but think, "Oh man...is this a sign of things to come?" I guess we would see More to come soon!! It is going to take me a bit of time to get through this report because I teach first grade and school started this week but I will update when I can. I know how much fun I had reading everyone elses's trip reports so I definatly want to do my share to help all those future brides!! Much love to you all!

 

[lindajoan]

I'm in suspense! Can't wait to hear more.

~LJ

 

[SRUAlmn]

Can't wait for the rest

I'm a first grade teacher too and had my first week of school last week, so no pressure here to get your report up and running. I can TOTALLY sympathize

 

[dee slack]

Congratulations!!!

Looking forward to the next instalment!

 

[JJClemson]

Congrats

Sorry to hear your wedding got off to a bumpy start. I hope your sweetie was ok. Can't wait to hear more...

 

[BrideToBe82]

Aww congrats...can't wait to hear the rest

 

[JennyandMike03]

Congrats! Can't wait to read more!

 

[DisneyFairy19]

Great post.. Would love to read the rest

 

[goofygal1975]

Congrats!!! Sorry about the rocky start....can't wait to read the rest!!! I love trip reports...especially Disney Wedding Trip reports!!

 

[disneyheaven]

Ok well, I am the WORST trip report writer ever in the history of Disboards! I began writing my trip report from my wedding last summer in September of 06'. I wrote 1 entry, and never ever returned to it! Shame! Shame! Shame! It has been on my list of things to do for the last year of my life! Everytime I had a break from school, I would say, Ok, I am going to work on my TR...and sure enough Christmas vacation, Feb. vacation, and April vacation have all pass me by! BUT...as my one year anniversary is fast approaching (August 21st) I am determined to continue and finish my Disney Wedding Trip Report! Reading other TR have brought me so much joy, as I was planning my wedding and even now as my wedding has long since passed. I think it is so amazing that we have a place to come and share our ideas, thoughts, concerns, and successes.

So, with my renewed sense of determination as well as my ability to now post pictures which I didn't know how to do before I am now going to continue with my trip report! I hope you all enjoy! ~Sarah

 

[jasonandlisa]

Congratulations!! Can't wait to hear more...

 

[disneyheaven]

Alright, on with the report! When I left off, Mark and I were at CVS getting him his prescription medicine for his ear infection. I was trying not to stress out, but it was hard not too. I wanted to be nice and calm for Mark, as he would be for me if the situation was reversed. So, we picked up his medicine, I gave him his first dosage and we were off to bed (for a few hours, at least!)

We woke up around 7:30am and I can't even tell you how excited I was! Oh my gosh, it was that feeling you get on Christmas morning as a child...that giggle in your stomach like, "This is it! Something big is about to happen!" Mark was feeling a bit better (we don't know if it was because the medicine was starting to work or he was just so excited the pain didn't really matter!) Anyhow, we got out of bed and started our morning. We had an afternoon flight but knew we had to leave for the airport about noontime. My sister was bringing us in to Logan Airport and we had so much stuff I feared it wouldnt all fit in one car!

We had a quick bowl of breakfast when Mark says to me "Um, babe? My license is expired." WHAT?!?! You can't fly with an expired license (and we didn't have passports) so, again, trying to remain calm, we started to problem solve. The DMV (or RMV?) opened at 8am, so I stayed at our apartment to pack up the last minute stuff and he headed out the door to renew his license. With all the planning we had done, I kept thinking to myself, "How did we forget about the license?" Mark had just had a birthday on August 13th and we both didn't relize that it was a "renew" year. Ahh well....I am just sooo glad he realized it on time! Phew! That would have been a nightmare if we realized it at curbside check in at the airport! Within an hour, Mark was back and we spent the morning checking, rechecking, and checking again all of our bags and luggage. We had shipped a great deal of our stuff down to Disney already. My dad works for FedEx so we got a great deal getting all sorts of stuff already down there. We shipped it directly to the Polynesian Resort (all the gifts for the rehearsal dinner, gift bags, etc) and to Disney Fairtale Weddings (our centerpieces, votive candles, printed menus, ceremony booklets, etc). I was frantic when we first sent them, afraid they woudln't make it but we sent them about 2 weeks prior to the wedding and we had received confirmation that everything had made it safe and sound!

It was such a surreal feeling as we left our apartment for the last time that morning. We were leaving as "fiances" and coming home as husband and wife. We were SOOOOOOOO EXCITED! One the car ride to my parents house (we were leaving our car there/meeting my sister there, etc) we put in our favorite Disney cd and blasted Disney tunes the whole trip there! We were soooo excited! I had on my Minnie Mouse Wedding Ears and Markie had his Red Sox Mickey Mouse Ears on! We were ready to go! (quick story behind the Red Sox hat: Mark is a great sport! When I said I wanted to wear the wedding ears, he was all about it. But, as much as I love my hubby, he does have a big head! It's a family joke we always laugh about! He has the WORST times finding baseball hats that fit. He can never buy the fitted hats, he always has to get the adjustable ones. So when we were in Disney the August before our wedding, we were not shocked when the Mickey top had didnt fit. It sat almost perfectly right ontop of his head! It looked hilarious! I was bummed so he helped me find a way to make it work. He had an old Red Sox hat (we are from Boston and are huge fans!) so we carefully took the ears off the Top Hat and stapled them onto his Red Sox hat! Wha-la! He looked fantastic!)

We arrived at my parents house and my sister was ready and waiting! She is the best!! She had been joking from the beginning about how she was our "limo sevice" to the airport. She played along for weeks before, randomly calling us and leaving us professional sounding messages on our machine to "confirm" our airport drop off. My family is funny like that, but I almost died when I pullled into my parents driveway! She had the works! She had a rolled out carpet leading to the door, she had "Honeymoon or Bust!" flags hanging from the back windows, chilled sparkling grapejuice and champange flutes in the backseat, and to complete the atmosphere, she had "Going to the Chapel" BLASTING the whole trip into Boston! It was such a nice suprise!! She is the BEST!!!

We were soo excited to be on our way! We got lots and lots of happy beeps and smiles on our trip there!

Up Next: Airport fun!

 

[disneyheaven]

When we finially arrived at the airport, we got all our stuff out of the back. The most important piece of stuff? My Wedding Dress!! I decided not to ship my dress. I worked out the cost with my dad, and with the cost of shipping plus the insurance I would need to cover it if anything ever happend to my dresss, it was honestly cheaper to just buy a seat for my dress! Ok, I heard every joke in the book for this one! "Oh, Sarah, you bought your dress its' own seat??" "Sarah, did your dress splurge for first class?" "Do you think your dress will argue with you or Mark for the window seat?" Hahaha!! I heard em' all! But it really was cheaper to just buy space for it to sit next to us! The reason why I did this was because I had called Delta as soon as I booked our tickets. I explained the situation of having a dress with me, and they were very hesitant to say "Yes, its fine. We will find space for it". I heard everything from "well, with 911 we can't garantee large objects a place on the plane" to "Some airplanes don't have extra closet space to hang something like that" etc..which was totally fine. I am a HUGE supporter in added security and do not mind a bit when the security lines are long at the airport. So, instead of making a fuss, I did my research and kept checking for prices of one way tickets from Boston to Orlando. (of course, on our plane. My dress told me she didn't want to fly alone! haha! ) Sure enough, I was able to get a GREAT price. A one-way ticket was only $59 dollars. It would have cost me $70-80 to have it shipped.

So, long story short, I had 10 days worth of clothes and goodies for Mark and I, plus my wedding dress. It was safe and sound, hanging in a David's Bridal dress bag (my dress was VERY puffy and HEAVY) but it was a pain lugging it through the airport. We always do curb-side check in so we headed up to the counter. There was a couple infront of us and as fate would have it, the woman had an expired license. The man WOULD not let her check in because she did not have a backup. Mark and I just looked at each other, and felt soooooo grateful he had remembered that morning to renew his! The wedding Gods were one our side with that one!

We had no trouble checking in and we got lots of congratulations as we made our way through security. The gentlemen who were working the belt at security were sooo nice! They kept pretending to sneak a peak at the gown, and wanted to know all about our big day! I did hold my breath as I watched my dress slide in the scanner thing at security I was afraid the bag would catch on something and it would pull my dress into the machine somehow! Thankfully, nothing happened so we headed to our terminal. We were STARVING so we stopped to get a quick lunch. After, we sat down and started talking about our trip. We were just so overcome with excitement. I think I cried once or twice, just realizing that it was really really happening! Here are some pics of us just enjoying the airport as we wait for boarding:

And here we are, being silly and switching hats

Before we knew it, they were calling us up to board the plane. We found our seats and got comfortable. I had the window (Mark doesn't like to fly and gets nervous) Markie had the middle, and my dress was sitting on the aisle. As we waited for everyone to board, an older man came over and asked if we could move the dress so he could sit down (I guess he was on standby and wasnt assigned a seat number? ) Mark explained to him that we had bought that seat. The man was very nice, and continued to find another empty seat. Within 10 minutes, just as the Delta employees were about to close the airplane door, the man who wanted to sit next to us throws up all over the place! The poor thing, I don't think he was a good flyer and sick in the first place, so the employees made the decision to have him exit the plane and wait for him to feel better and take another flight. My heart went out to him, but I was quite relieved we hadn't had him next to us. The smell of someone getting sick would have made me sick. After a 20 minute delay (they had to clean up the sick man's mess) we were finially being taxied out onto the runway! I was sooooo excited and Mark was sooo nervous He was afraid that during lift-off his ears would pop right off his head. Thankfully, he had a very smooth take off and landing and he did a-ok with his ears!

Up Next: Arrival at Orlando International! My favorite airport in the world!

 

[Sparkles9306]

I love those boston mickey ears!! That's such a great idea.

 

[Dremwvr]

Such a great trip report! So glad you are getting around to posting it! Love the pictures, and I can't wait for your future installments!

 

[disneyheaven]

Thanks Stephanie! I see you're from MA so you know about our deep devotion to the Red Sox! Love that Dirty Water!!

Continued- We arrived safetly in Florida. We could hardly wait to get outside and smell that Disney air! There is something about the sticky, humid, wet smell of a Disney day in August that I just can't get enough of! We exited the plane and took that fun, mono-rail thing out of the plane terminal and headed towards baggage claim. We had previously arranged for a towncar to pick us up at the airport. I was hoping the company remembered us! As we took the escalaltor down to baggage claim, we saw a man holding a board with our names on it....phew! We wouldn't be stranded at the airport! It took a bit for our planes luggage to start coming around the conveyor belt. Our luggage must have been put on the plane towards the end because our bags were one of the first to down down the shoot. After we gathered our stuff, we headed out the doors of the airport to where our towncar was awaiting us! And ohhh!! We smelt that Disney air! It was fantastic! A wave of excitement flooded my body! We were really here!! The man helped us get my dress in the front seat of the car, while Mark and I got settled in the back. He started the car, and we were off!

The excitment grew and grew as we left the airport and starting seeing those amazingly ginormous Walt Disney World billboards! (I always found it funny when Universal would put one up right next to Disney...like there was some kind of comparison or something! ha Just kidding! I like Universal...I have been there once, but it doesn't even compare to "the world" and all the magic Disney has to offer!) Anway, we finally make it to the Polynesian Resort. We were ECSTATIC!!!! I had never stayed at the Polynesian. Mark had one when he was a kid and loved it. Whenever we are in Disney, we always spend time over at the Poly. A perfect Disney day is complete with a non-alcoholic strawberry daiquore, sitting in a double swing side by side, rocking as we just stare at that beautiful castle. Ahhh!! We just love it!! The Polynesian would normally never be in our budget. We are a "moderate" sort of couple. We love the middle priced resorts, as they offer enough ammedities without being overcrowded or too expensive. (course, we loved staying at all All-Star as well! How can you beat $79 a night to be in Disney!) Anyhow, we felt very lucky and fortunate that we were able to splurge for the Polynesian for our 10 night stay. The annual passes with the Disney Wedding discount certainly helped as well. We pulled up to the Poly and as we got out, we were greeted with pretty silk flower leis from the Poly staff and lots of help with our stuff, as our hands were quite full! The guys outside told us they would hold our stuff while we went to check in. We walked into the lobby (love that lobby! ) and went to the check-in counter. We had a very nice man help us get situated. He told us what building we would be staying in, and gave us our room keys. I was excited when I saw my soon-to-be married name on my card! Yipee!!! The man also told us to wait a minute, as he had something for us. I was excited, not knowing what it was! Maybe it was a suprise because they knew we were getting married! No such luck! Ha It was, though, the HUGE delivery box we had sent a few weeks ago with all our rehearsal dinner gifts, cards, wrappings, etc inside. I was just as happy to see that! The guy called for someone to come and help us with all our stuff. We walked out of the lobby and there was a golf cart waiting with all our luggage and my dress. They helped us put the box in the cart, and we were off! We had payed for a lagoon view, with a special request for a castle view that was put in by our wedding planner. When we finially arrived at our room, we were pretty happy. We werent directly on the lagoon, but our room was very private and we did have a nice view of that INCREDIBLE castle!! By this time, it was almost 8pm and getting pretty dark. We wanted to head to the Magic Kingdom just to walk around and maybe do a ride or two. I had just enough time to take a quick picture or two of our room and our view, and then we were off to the Magic Kindom.

Here is a stunnging view of our lovely bathroom at the Polynesian!! Don't ask me why I took this one!

And here is our great view from our balcany

We ran out of our room and headed down to the Polynesian dock to take the boat to the Magic Kingdom. We could have taken the monorail but it was such a beautiful night we wanted to be outside as much as we could. The boat arrived pretty quickly and we jumped in!

We were both almost jumping out of our shoes when we finially arrived at the Magic Kingdom!!! We had activated our annuel passes previously that year. Mark had suprised me with a long weekend trip to Disney in January (7 months before our wedding day) to do a cake testing and have some fun in Disney together before the big big trip! He knew I was feeling kinda down because MOST of the planning had to be done over the phone and email (and I am a very hands-on person) so he wanted to provide me with in-person planning! That is why he is the most incredible person in the world! So that Christmas, he suprised me with the news that he had booked a weekend trip to Disney!

With our passes already in hand, we went through the turnstiles and walked down Mainstreet USA!! It was the first of 10 days in Disney and we had so much to look forward too!! We waited in line at Splash Mountain (that is my FAVORITE ride in all the world) and at POTC (Mark's FAVORITE ride in all the world). We had had a very long day and knew we had an early morning ahead of us (with most of our family and friends coming in the next 2 days) so we headed home and went to bed. (but not after watching an INCREDIBLE showing of Wishes! that we saw from our bed!) It was going to be an amazing vacation!

Up next: Day 2 (Friday August 17th)

 

[SRUAlmn]

Yay, how exciting!!!!! I can't wait to read more! The baseball hat idea is great! I wish we would've thought of that. DH's head was just barely the right size, but he was too embarrassed to wear the top hat.

 

[disneyheaven]

Day 2: Friday, August 18th.

The alarm went off really early on Friday morning (although I guess it always does when we are in Disney! ) Mark and I always joke. You know the line from "A League of their Own" when Tom Hanks says to the girls, "There's no CRYING! There's no CRYING in BASEBALL!" Well, we change that line to "There's no Sleeping! There's no SLEEPING in DISNEY!" Too many fun things to do...too little time! I always jump in the shower first so Mark can have an extra 10-15 minutes or so. We got ready pretty quickly. It was a GORGEOUS day out, but you could tell it was going to be a HOT one! We had never experienced Disney in August until we visited for a week exactly one week prior to our wedding. I love the sun, and I love the heat, but Disney is (on some day) borderline excrutiating. It was already very hot and steamy, so we knew we would have to take a rest in the afternoons to beable to keep going at night.

Anyhow, we went for a quick breakfast that morning at the Polynesian foodcourt. Captain hooks (counter service place at the Poly) was actually closed for referbishment, so they moved the counter-service stuff to the old game room location. It was sort of a make-shift place, but it worked. We grabbed a quick egg and bacon plate and ate outside. We loved looking at all the families getting ready for a long day in Disney, all the excitement and anticipation of the day ahead!

When we finished with breakfast, we headed to the dock to catch the boat to head to the MK. We always, always, always start each Disney day at the Magic Kingdom. It's just a routine we have stuck to for the last 5 years! When we got to the Magic Kingdom, we were suprised that it didn't seem that busy. We caught the last few moments of the opening ceremony and then headed into the park. We spent the morning doing most of our faovorite rides (splash, POTC, space, buzz, transit authority, thunder, haunted, etc) The lines weren't bad at all, but the sun was getting stronger and stronger. That had been one of my biggest worries about the days in Disney before the wedding. I was wearing a strapless dress, and being fair-skinned, I was so afraid of sunburns and tanlines. Even though I normally don't ever wear a tubetop in Disney, I knew that was my only option for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday before the wedding. I also kept myself loaded up on SPF 30, just to be sure!

At about noontime we were getting really hungry!! Our favorite lunchspot in the Magic Kingdom?? CASEY'S CORNER!!!! WE love that place!!! We got 2 hot dogs, and shared a french fry and a large soda! We sat right outside so we could watch the festivities. We did a few more rides, and then took the boat back to the Polynesian.

We still had some time before we needed to head to Franc Bank's Studio to discuss some last minute details with our wedding planner. Mark and I love renting Mouse Boats and cruising around on the lagoon, so we decided to do that. We each rented our own, and spent the next 45 minutes out and about playing on the water! We had a blast!

We went back to our room for a bit to lay down and relax. At about 3, we got up and walked over to Franc's studio. We had a nice meeting with Karen, our wedding planner. She had been fantastic throughout our entire wedding process! It was exciting discussing the final details of the big day! It all felt sooo real!! The only big issue that we had left to resolve was how we were going to get the centerpieces and votives and we had made at home to the reception location and set up on the tables. When I had asked earlier about paying a set up fee to have this done for us (which we were 100% willing to do) I was told that Disney could not set up stuff that was brought from home becauase of a liability issue. I had been stressing out about this and still, at this moment, didn't know what the solution was going to be. Karen totally stepped up to the plate and explained to us that her assistant would take care of it! Phew!! I was grateful and relieved about that! We went over the items that we had shipped to Disney Weddings, and made sure everything made it there in one piece. Everything was perfect!! We left Karen, and looked forward to seeing her on Sunday for the rehersal.

We left Franc's and my phone had started ringing. My sister Annie and her boyfriend Jeff had just arrived at their hotel. We also had a message from Mark's bestfriend (and groomsmen) Joe and his girlfriend Kate. Joe and Kate had actually been in Disney since Wednesday and Jeff and Annie just arrived that day. We had plans that night to go to MGM and eat at Mama Melrose. I was soo looking forward to seeing them! It was sort of "the calm before the storm", as most of our family was flying in the next day (Saturday).

We went back to our hotel, took a quick shower, and waited for a bus to arrive at the Poly. It was pretty quick, we got on, and headed to MGM. We waited at the main gate for the others to arrive. Within a few minutes, both Kate+Joe and Annie+Jeff had arrived! I was soooooo excited to see them!! I had only just said goodbye to Annie on Wednesday when Mark and I flew out, but I missed them all the same!!

We headed into the park and decided to do one quick ride. Tower of Terror didn't have a long line, so we got on! It was fun going on rides with people you know and love! I loved listening to my sister scream the whole time! We were sooo giggly! We had been on that ride plenty of times together when we were younger, but here we were (almost 10 years later), all grown up, and still laughing and giggling like little girls. It was a classic moment.

It was about time for our reservation, so we headed to Mama Melrose. We checked in, and still had to wait about 15-20 minutes. We were seated and had a fantastic dinner. Our waiter was fabulous and kept us laughing the whole time. Mark and Joe are known for quoting movie lines, so they were going back and forth and the waiter kept joining in. It was an awesome night.

Here are some pics from the night:

Mark and his best friend Joe

Me and the girls (my sister Annie is on the right, Kate is on the left)

Mark and the boys

We had an awesome dinner and decided to all head over to EPCOT for some drinks. Mark and I took some pics outside the park. Here is one right after a nice picture was taken. (he thinks its funny to pretend to get down on one knee and pretend like he is asking me to marry him again - he does this quite a bit bc he knows it embarrasses me!

As we waited for the Friendship boat from MGM to Epcot, my belly started hurting soo badly. (I am known for having food not agree with me...something I have always had and dealt with). Within 10 minutes, the pain in my stomach was so bad, Mark and I knew we wouldn't make it to Epcot. We decided to head back to the hotel and call it a night. I was sad we didn't make it out, but also knew we coudln't push ourselves to the limit on the second day. So we boarded a bus and headed back to the hotel. We were in bed shortly thereafter.

Next up: Day 3 (Saturday, August 19th)

 

[pepples22]

Great trip report so far!! I can't wait to read more.

Congratulations!!!

 

[Maggimus]

Congratulations-- i love reading this!! Im glad your DHs ear got better-- and I got terrible sick to my stomach at MGM too (it was the night before the wedding-- i could barely contain myself-- ive very seldom ever had stomach cramps as bad as those). You all look like your having a blast. You are such a pretty girl! Cant wait for more!