Trip Report - Disney Wedding and Honeymoon

[disneyheaven]

Thank you Pepples!! I am a bit addicted now to keep adding as much as I can! It's fun re-living that incredible week!! Its funny..Mark and I went out for a quick dinner last night and he knows a lot about Disboards (well, not a lot...only that I am ADDICTED and are on AT LEAST 2-3 times a day) but he knows I am writing a trip report now (Mark: "A What??" Sarah: "A trip report! Hunny...its like a recap of our wedding and honeymoon for all the other brides to read" Mark: "Ohh...I see!") so he goes, "Is it done yet?" Ohhhhh lovey lovey! No chance! I told him I just finished up day 2 and he was shocked! He can't understand why it takes so long and I explained to him that girls LOVE details and we all love as much information as possible! So I am going to keep on going until this is finished!

Thank you Magimus for your nice comment...I have never been a confident person in my looks and its hard for me posting all these pics bc they are sooo GIGANTIC!!! Like BAM!! THERE'S MY BIG HEAD! haha P.S. Is there a way to minimize the pics before I post them?? I don't know why they are so huge??

 

[SRUAlmn]

Sounds like you had a FUN day! We stayed at the CR for our trip and Clint really wanted to rent those boats, but I was scared. I LOVE the water and I'm a swimmer, but I don't like water where I can't see what is in it. I was afraid I was going to tip the boat over or something and fall in the gross water. Looking at your pics, I wish we would've done it. Maybe next time

We also do the 'no sleeping in Disney' line. Well, more me than Clint. We'll get back from a park and he'll plop down on the bed and I'll say "No! There's no sleeping in Disney!' That's so funny that you two do it too

I agree with Maggie, you are adorable. I know what you mean about the pictures, though. It's kinda just putting yourself all out there for the world to see. You don't have anything to worry about, though, you're beautiful

 

[DisneyFairy19]

I LOVE your pics

 

[Maggimus]

P.S. Is there a way to minimize the pics before I post them?? I don't know why they are so huge??

Like I said your gorgeous so no worries about big photos!! Kapeesh?

Haha if you want to resize- i see you use photobucket... just click on the photo to enlarge it (in photobucket) or click the word "edit". You can resize it and I would resize it to website/e-mail. Once you resize on photobucket you can never go back and make them bigger-- youll have to upload again to get the big photo again. Dont make them any smaller than website/e-mail-- we still want to see that pretty face

 

[myprincessgirlisa]

Im so glad you came back & are finishing your TR!!!

I love what you did to DHs hat to get him MM ears...so cute

your sis is awesome to do that little Limo thing for you...very cool!!

The license thing was pretty crazy & then to have someone in front of you have that exact issue is almost a little creepy..glad it worked out

& also that man getting sick on the plane is horrible!! thank god he wasnt sitting next to you!! How were DHs ears...did they survive!!??

I would LOVE to stay at the poly some day...thats cool they put Leis on you when you pull up...how fun is that

cant wait to hear more & congrats on your upcoming 1yr!!!!

 

[disneyheaven]

Ahh!! You guys are the BEST!! What nice words you all have!!

Karen: I laughed so hard when I read your reply! That's funny to hear you say the "no sleeping thing" in Disney as well. (and to be 100% honest....I am like you....Mark would take more naps if I would let him....but I dont! I am always like, GEt up and go!!!! You absolutly need to do mouseboats next time you are in Disney...it is a blast! I do not like the water either...I get very hesitant and filled with anxiety when I am in water over my head.. (in fact, Mark and I were jetskiing earlier this year and I flipped it by mistake, we fell in the water, and I literally started hyperventailating becuase the water was so dark and we were very far out. Mark was great, got the jet ski up-right immediatly, and lifted me up onto it as quickly as he could but I still paniced a bit). But with the mouseboats I feel sooooo safe and sound.

Thank you Disneyfairy, Maggimus and Cori. You are all soooo sweet!!! Thank you Maggimus about the resizing tip. I will see if I can figure that out next time I post pics..if not..you guys will just have to deal with the WAY TOO CLOSE pics! hahah!!!

Thank you for all your support!! I am on to writing day 3 !!!!!

 

[disneyheaven]

Day 3: Saturday, August 19th.

Once again, we woke bright and early and got a jump start on the day. We had made reservations to go Parasailing this morning at 9am! I was soooo excited to do this!! We had gone in Bermuda a few years back and thought it was incredible so we figured what an amazing experience it would be to do it in Bay Lake, right near the Magic Kingdom. I hopped in the shower and when I got out, Mark had the look on his face like, "You're going to be disaapointed" Without another word, I said, "What?" Apparently, Tommy Duvals watersports had called us (they work out of the Contemporary Resort) and had to reschedule our parasailing. I was kinda bummed because it was a gorgeous day and had been really forward to doing this. But, what could be do? We rescheduled for Wednesday (2 days after the wedding). I guess in the end, it worked out perfectly because now both my sisters and their boyfriend/husband would go with us too. So, not all was lost! We decided to hit the parks instead (nothing wrong with that! ) We spent the morning at Magic Kingdom and then headed over to Animal Kingdom to do a few rides there. We fast passed EVEREST and waited in line at the safari.

All morning, we couldn't help but think about our family (our ENTIRE family) that was in-flight from Boston to Orlando. It was crazy the way it all worked out. My mom, dad, grammie, grampie, sister Katie, and her husband George all booked their flights about 9 months before the wedding. A week or two later, Mark's family (his mom, dad, brother, his brothers girlfriend, his sister, his aunt and uncle and their 2 kids, and his other aunt and uncle and there 2 kids) called to let us know they had booked their flight as well. Sure enough, it was the exact same flight!!! We had 19 of our closest family all on the same flight! We were a bit nervous (heaven forbid if anything happened) but knew everyone would get there safely. They were scheduled to land about 2:15-2:30ish or so, so I kept my cellphone close at hand. Sure enough, about 2:40ish or so, my mom called to let me know everyone had made it there safely. Phew!! I could not wait to see everyone!! It was feeling sooo real at this point!! My best friend Danielle and her fiance Jimmy had arrived today as well, along with my other friend Lauren and her fiance Joe.

We knew it would take a bit of time for our families to get their luggage and make it to their hotels, and since it was midafternoon, we decided to head back to the hotel to relax.

When we got back to the Polynesain, we sat by the pool and had some non-alcoholic drinks (Mark and I don't really drink). The Polynesian had the BEST strawberry daiquores and orange creamsicles!! They are to die for! Yum! Yum! Yum! It was EXTRUCIATINLY hot that afternoon so we decided to go back to our room and take a nap (yup...you know I was tired when I agreed to a nap!)

We had dinner plans to meet all our friends at ESPN at about 7pm, so we knew it would be a late night.

We both slept for a bit and then woke up to shower and refresh. We had phone messages for all our friends and everyone was still on for dinner that night.

We waited outside the Poly and caught a bus to EPCOT. When we arrived, we walked through the Epcot gates and and headed towards World Showcase. We walked through and cut over through the international gateway. My parents, sisters, and grandparents were staying at the Beach Club. Mark and I had some time before dinner so we stopped over to my parents room to say hello. I was so happy to see them! And I was so grateful they were helping my grandparents get around and about. My grandmother almost didnt make it to my wedding. She had fallen about 18 months before the wedding and broke her femur bone in her leg. I love my gram more than anything else in the world. She spent so much time in the hospital trying to recover from this injury. Like the trooper that she is...she recovered like a champ! Yet, 4 months before the wedding, she fell again and broke the same bone in her leg. Her doctor basically told her that she would never walk again. (to which my gram replied" well then, you don't know me very well, do you?) She worked SOOOOOO Hard at physical therapy the last 4 months before the wedding. We were all cheering her on, hoping that she would be strong enough to make it down to Disney I am blessed to say that my gram and gramp were able to make it to my wedding Looking back on my wedding now is especially bittersweet because my Gram passed away from Breast Cancer this past January When she got home from the trip. she went to a doctors appointment in in October, found out she had breast cancer, and lost a short battle in January. Looking back on pictures and watching my video makes me so grateful for the time I had with her. She was a second mom to me, and we all miss her so much. She was a true hero. My parents were amazing and helping them with their motorized scooters. They helped the entire week getting them here, there, and everywhere.

Sorry about that story, I got a little side-tracked. I guess I wanted you all to know how important and special it was to have had the oppurtunity the have my gram and gramp be able to attend our wedding.

After a short visit with my parents, sisters, and grandparents, we walked over to the ESPN club. My 2 best friends were already there with their fiances. I was soooooo pumped!!!! I have known my 2 best friends since Kindergarten. We went to the same elementary school, did sports and dance together, attended our proms together, stayed close during college, and now were celebrating our weddings together. They both mean so much to me and I was so appreciative they were all able to fly down for our special day.

We were still waiting for Joe and Kate to arrive, as well as Mark's other best friend, Sue. They were staying at the same resort and they had boarded a bus for downdown Disney to transfer to a resort bus that would get them to the Boardwalk. We were kind of frusterated because we were suppose to MEET at 7pm, and they were still at their hotel bustop at 7pm. I tried not to be frusterated though. They are not Disney people and don't know about the incredible amount of time you often have to allow for getting from place to place.

We sat down and decided to order some drinks. And take some pictures!

Here is a picture of me, Danielle, and Lauren

Me and Markie

Me and Lauren

It was about 8o'clock and they still hadn't arrived. We were starving so decided to order. We called to check in and they coudln't figure out how to get to the Boardwalk from Downdown Disney. They told us they would call us back.

We had a nice dinner, and enjoyed being with our friends. We wished Joe, Kate, and Sue were with us, but no such luck. During dinner, the guys at ESPN did a sports trivia game. Mark is sucha sports buff and knows alot about different kinds of sports. They asked a question about a football player. They named some stats and Mark knew and answer (it was Tom Brady - being from Boston, we had to know that! ) So he won this t-shirt

At 8:45 they call us back and said they weren't going to try and get there. It was too late at that point, they had missed dinner, and were heading back to their hotel. Mark was mad but what could we do?? We finished up dinner and headed outside to walk on the Boardwalk. We decided to each rent a double seated bicycle. We had a blast!! The boys were being boys, racing around the waterway, trying to prove who was the fastest! I kept yelling at Mark to slow down "I don't want road-rash on my face for our wedding day! Slow down!!! " We had a fun time though! After a bit, Mark and I decided to head back to go to bed. We had a big day in the morning (we were having almost our entire list of wedding guests to breakfast at the Crystal Palace !!!) Up next, day 4!

 

[Maggimus]

the bicycles sound like so much fun. I liek that you took time to talk about your grandmother and grandfather. And think-- you now probobly have a few photos taken right before her passing in January-- not a lot of ppl can say they have photos or got to share such a special occasion right before. LOVE your installments, and i love all the photos. Cant wait for more

 

[SRUAlmn]

It was so sweet to hear about your grandmother! Especially because mine almost didn't make it to my wedding either. I knew how special of a feeling that was. So glad she made it and got to see you get married before she passed. Hugs to you and your family

We love the bikes at the Boardwalk. They are so fun!! We do races too, so I can't say I blame Mark for going Nascar on you!

It stinks that your friends didn't make it for dinner. Disney transportation can be hard sometimes, especially if you don't really know what you're doing.

Can't wait to hear more!

 

[JJClemson]

I LOVE your TR! You are so beautiful, I have no idea why you are so self-conscious w/ your looks I'm so jealous you all rented those bikes on the Boardwalk! We were going to do that a couple night but we had already drank too much and didn't think that would be a good idea I agree w/ Karen and Maggie-- so great you had that time w/ your grandma! I cannot wait to see your wedding pictures and hear about your big day!! By the way... my mom and I were at WDW from Aug 13-17 last year for my site visit so we may have passed you at some point!

 

[disneyheaven]

Hey Jen!
Thank you so much!! I must tell you.......your trip report and pictures were AMAZING!!!! I was reading your report and followed it each day you added a new reply. It was incredible! You and your DH are all all-american couple! You are soooo beautiful and your hubby is soooo handsome! You both looked incredible on your big day! I loved seeing all your pics (and like someone else stated...your bridal party was beautiful!) You all look like JCrew models!!

Thanks again for your kind words and I can't wait to keep writing!!

 

[disneyheaven]

Day 4: Sunday, August 20th (The day before the Big DAY!!!)

I had done so much planning for this day...the day BEFORE our big day!! The day was to start with a huge family breakfast at the Crystal Palace. Then, it was off to Tuxedo fittings at our hotel with Carolyn Allen's, lastly, we had our rehearsal at the Grand Floridian and then our rehearsal dinner at 'ohanas. I was soooo excited to get this day started!!! I was practically jumping out of bed! Who needs an alarm clock? I was running on pure, Disney magic!!! Mark, on the other hand, was not running on Disney magic and needed some assistance from his alarm on his cell phone, a few yells from me when I was in the shower, and a jump on the bed when I got out!! But after a little bit, he was rip-roaring and ready to go!! We were soo excited about seeing everyone at breakfast that morning. We had planned this WAY in advance. We wanted to plan something fun, something where everyone who was down for the wedding could attend (the rehearsal dinner was going to be a blast, but only the wedding party and significant others were attending) so our FAVORITE place to have breakfast in all the 'world is the Crystal Palace! We love this place!! You can't beat their puffed cinnamon french toast and their bagel pizza?? Unlike anything else in the world!! We love it!! We sometimes feel silly when its just the two of us, what with all the kids surrounding us, but we still jump up and take pics with all the Winnie the Pooh characters!! We are geeks and we know it!!

We got dressed and took the monorial(we sure do love that monorail ) over to the Magic Kingdom. We were making bets the whole time about whose family would be there first. We each had money on our own families, but I had a feeling he might win. With my side taking such good care of my gram and gramp, I knew it would take them a bit longer to get there with the 2 motorized scooters. We landed at the dock, and were sooooooooooo happy to see so many of our family and friends already there! They started cheering and clapping!! We felt like movie stars!! We both have small families so we were really lucky that we were able to invite everyone in our families, their significant others, our 2 best friends, and their significant others. All said and done? We had about 46 people going to our wedding, and almost every single person was at the breakfast as well!! There were lots and lots of hugs and kisses, but I was sad to see my family wasn't there yet (my immediate family, that is). I knew it was trying, waiting for the transportation with the wheelchairs and I knew my mom was doing her best to get to places on time with everyone. Luckily, they arrived within 10 minutes or so. My mom definatly seemed a bit stressed out (I guess it took a long time getting the wheelchairs on and off the bus). I love my mom, she is so precious to be, but she definatly stresses out way to much...she always has. So she had that look on her face like, "Ohh..this is getting frusterating!" I don't blame her. I think what was frusterating her the most was that she was the mother of the bride..she had a lot going on this week too. Now my aunt and uncle, who were not apart of the wedding, could have very easily helped out more with my gram and gramp, getting them here, there, and everywhere, but she kinda let my mom do it all, which was frusterating. It's like my mom and dad were hosting so much that weekend, it would have been nice to have my aunt help out more, but oh well. Everyone was there, safe and sound and that's what is important.

There were lots more hugs and kisses, and we finally all made it through the turnstiles and walked up MainStreet USA together. I absolutly wanted a HUGE family picture infront of the castle, but our reservations were at 8:05 (park opened at 9am that morning) so I knew we had to get going. Mark and I went to check in, while the rest of the family started taking some fun pictures.

The staff at the Crystal Palace were very nice towards the beginning, but then got a bit snippy with us . We were still waiting on my 2 cousins to arrive, but decided we would all be seated. They asked, "Is everyone here?" and with the exception of those 2 small guests, everyone was, so I said , "Yes, we are ready to be seated." So we were brought over to our tables. There was no way to have over 40+ people all sitting together but the set up was nice. We had about 8 tables of 6 seats all in the same area. We got ourselves settled and one table at a time, got up to start enjoying the buffet. When my cousins finially arrived, the staff got huffy about "not seating a party unless everyone had arrived" I guess they were rude to my cousins when they were checking in. Oh well....cranky people weren't going to get in the way of my happiness that morning! I had breakfast pizza to indulge in!

I couldnt believe it was all happening! I was so excited to look around and see everyone that we know and love, here in Disney World, experiencing a weekend of a lifetime.

Here are some pics from the event.

Here is Mark and I on the monorail heading over to the MK

Us at the best breakfast place ever!!

My future FIL and my favorite character!

My future MIL and Piglet again!

Mark's friend Sue (a bridesmaid) Mark, me, Joe, and Kate

Joe, Lauren, Danielle, and Jimmy

Mark's Family

My Gram and Gramp, and my moms 2 cousins (who flew all the way from CA to share our special day!

Me, my mom and dad

My sisters, their hunnies, and my cousins

Mark's fam

Sue and Joe (Markie's BFF's)

and lastly, one of me and Mark

I have to grab dinner now, I will continue day 4 when I get back!

 

[SRUAlmn]

How cute!!!!!!!! CP is one place we have never eaten and actually almost did during our trip 2 weeks ago. Now I really want to. That french toast sounds good You, your sisters, and your mom are just like my family...you all have the same face. I loved your pictures, you and Mark are adorable

 

[Maggimus]

I your pictures. You and Mark are so cute together. I love how you played a game to see whose family would make it there the fastest. Your mom looks so young! So does your dad!! I bet they appreciate that!! You favor your family so much-- and Mark favors his as well. Ive never ate at CP but now I want to!

 

[disneyheaven]

Thank you Mag! You are soo sweet! Oh you have to try Crystal Palace...it really is very yummy! (I mean, its buffet food, but it still hits the spot!


Ok- where did I leave off?
Oh yes...eating breakfast with the whole crew! We were having such a nice time enjoying down time with everyone. I think everyone was happy to be ther (How could they not?!? They were in Disney on vacation!!! ) The staff at Crystal Palace were fantastic and kept coming up to say congratulations and wanted to know about the details of the wedding day. One really nice elderly man approached me and tapped me on the arm. He was so sweet looking, he was dressed in the male uniform of Crystal Palace, but he looked too frail to work. I think he was more of a greeter, approaching families to see how things were for them. He went on to say congratulations and told me a beautiful story of how he met his wife, how they had 3 beautiful children together, about how they were best friends and lived each day apprecaiting each other and the love they had for each other. He then went on to say that his love "was taken" from him a few years ago and not a day goes by when it doesnt still hurt to not see her face next to him. Fast forward until approx. 5 seconds after the story was over and I was BALLING my eyes out!! I mean, can't catch my breathe, hicopping, crying to the point where my mom runs over and goes, "Oh my god, what's wrong?" I am a VERY emotional person, and I think the stress and emotion of all this wedding stuff finially came crashing down! I could not pull it together! Mark comes over and I am trying to explain what happened, and I just keep hugging him saying, "I just love you..I just love you" I was a blubbering mess. The poor man kept saying to my mom, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make her upset" My mom explainded the best she could that I am just emotional with all the wedding stuff that is going on and I always had a soft spot for a good love story. Looking back now, I am mortifiied. I relieze now that all my family is staring at me, to which I have to go explain what happened. When I explain it, it doenst seem so sad. He had a wife and she passed away? And? But to me, it always hurts me when I see an elderly person alone, after living life together for so many years, especially when I am one day away from embarking on that beautiful, long road. Ahh....love and the crazy things it can do!!

But, I finially dried my tears and continued with my breakfast! When everyone had had enough to eat, we headed outside to take our one in a lifetime GIGANTIC Disney photo on Mainstreet USA infront of the castle. Getting 40+ people organized to do anything is an ordeal...people kept wandering away, not following the crowd, etc. We started doing some smaller pictures of just Mark's family, then just my family, then just our freinds, etc. Finially, we got one of the entire gang! It came out amazing!! I wish I had a copy of it to post. I have a hard copy but don't know how to get it into my computer, so you'll just have to take my word for it! It was fantastic! When picture time was over, everyone started to disperse around the park. Mark had really wanted to do POTC with his family, so I tagged along with them, and my 2 sisters and their hunnies came as well. The MK was really croweded that morning, so we waited in line for quite a bit to get on.

Here is Mark with his family and Sue

And here is one of me and my sisters (Annie on the left, Katie on the right) P.S. Katie is pregnant(not in this picture!) with twins!! My baby niece and nephew are due to be born in a few weeks! I can't wait to be an auntie!

After we finished with POTC, we realized how late it had already gotten. We had Carolyn Allen's coming to our hotel at 11:30, so we had to high-tail it out of there. We had planned to meet everyone at the Polynesian poolbar by 11:00. We said goodbye to my sisters and the group, and headed with Mark's dad and brother to the front of the Mk. We waited for the boat and we saw Joe arriving as well. The only one that was missing was my dad, but i figured my mom and dad had headed over to the POLY early, as they were intrigued by our resort and wanted to walk around We all got on the boat, and headed over to the hotel. When we arrived and walked off the dock, sure enough we see my mom and dad at the poolbar, already enjoying some festive drinks! Heck! It's vacation! They bought us all a round of something fun, then we headed up to our hotel room. I was excited for everyone to see our view! We waited for about 20 minutes and still no Carolyn Allens. I got a call about 25 minutes after she was suppose to arrive saying she was at the GF with another bride but she would be over in a moment. I felt bad I was tying everyone up, but we had to get these tuxes taken care of. And good thing we did! When she finially arrived (in a bit of a mood too, I must say!) a lot of the things were wrong. Mark's pants were tooo long, his jacket arms were too short. My dad's shirt was too small, and Mark's dad's vest didn't fit right. I was freakin a little bit, as we took these measurements before and I had hopped it would all be ok. Well, I had heard enough good things about Carolyn Allens that I didnt stress. I knew it would all come together for tomorrow.

When we were done, everyone headed out. We said our goodbyes and told everyone we would see them at 4:00 for our rehearsal at the GF.

Mark and I were feeling hungry at this point (yes, I know we just had a huge breakfast, but when we are in Disney...we eat like all the time!!! Big Breakfast, a nice snack, a HUGE lunch, more snacks, ice cream, DInner, another huge snack, ice cream , bed) HAHAHAHAHA

We decided that we would spend the afternoon lounging by the pool. We had a nice, calm afternoon. We also got together the gifts for the rehearsal dinner that night. I loved doing that! I had made the bags with cutie labels and decorated a beautiful hand-made card for each person in our wedding party. I had written a letter to each one of them, telling them how important they all were to us. It was fantastic! Here is a picture of all the bags, lined up and ready to go

At about 3:00, we headed in to start getting ready for the rehearsal. I was so excited when we were finially ready!

I am a nerd when it comes to dressing sometimes. I had found this cutie dress at Ann Taylor and knew it would be perfect for the rehersal. We were having it at 'ohanas and it def had that tropical feel to it. So I knew I wanted the pics to look ok, so I made Mark wear this bright green (or should I say, LIME green) Polo with a little pink Polo guy. He is like, oh man...you know it's love when a guy wears this color shirt to match his fiance!! hahah!! So if you were thinking, wow, they match....yes..it was on purpose!

We walked over to the GF lobby (where Karen had told us to meet her) and were the first ones there (we were early, so we knew we would be). We also knew we were closing in on the last few moments of together time. Tomorrow, we would spend most of the day apart! We coudlnt believe how fast things were going by! So much of the weekend was already over!! It's crazy how time does that!!!

Once again, we started taking bets of whose family would arrive first. The winner? MARK AGAIN! My poor family just coudlnt seem to make it there on time! Our friends arrived shortly as well, and I was begining to wonder where Karen, our WP was. About 20 minutes passed and she was still a no show. So I called her cell. Apparently, there was a miscommunication she she thought she told us to meet her in the GF convention lobby, not the reg hotel lobby. Ah well...we headed there to see her and to meet Rev. Day for the first time.

He was a doll...I loved him from the first moment we spoke! Karen explained that we had to get started right away because we had already lost out on so much time. I didnt want to start yet though...my family wasnt there yet. I tried stalling as long as I could. I called my mom and she had that paniced sound in her voice. They were having a REALLY hard time getting those silly scooters around the 'world and it was causing such a delay. She goes, "Sarah, we left over an hour ago and we are still 5 minutes away! I can't believe it has taken this long". I tell Karen that they are 5 minutes away, but she insists we have to get started. She suggests that we run through me and Mark's part of the ceremony. I know it was only the rehearsal but I didn't want my parents and sisters and grandparents NOT to see it. I knew we were on a time crunch, so we continued and went ahead. We practiced the ring exchange, the unity candle, the Kiss and the recetional. I was INCREDIBLY nervous, as Mark and I had decided to write our own vows. I knew mine were pretty lenghty (about 3-4 minutes) and was nervous about reading them for the first time outloud and infront of 45 people. We had done a good job of keeping our vows a secret from each other. We both had them in word documents that we swore to each other we woudlnt open, and we didnt.

When me and Mark's part was over, we waited a bit longer for my fam. Sure enough, they had finially arrived!! Rev day scooted out, and we took some pics before we started the actual rehersal of the precessional.

Mark, his dad, and me

Boy! Get another hand signal!

Me and my girls

 

[dee slack]

great TR!
I as so with you on the story of the old man - my eyes were welling up reading it! It does get a little embarassing some times I know, but I know it's better to be over emotional than have no emotion at all - it's human.

 

[disneyheaven]

Ohhh man!!!!!!!! I just practically finished the reherasal story and it woudlnt send!!! OOHHH I am so mad!!

Alright, I am giving the shortened version. When my parents finially arrived, we started doing the actual run-through of the precession. Everything was going really smoothly but I was def geting nervous. I had made the very difficult decison of not having my father walk me down the aisle. This was a very difficult thing for me to have to decide, but having been dissaointed and hurt by many of the decisons in his life, I decided that I would walk myself down the aisle. I could not justify a man who does not value fidelity in his own marriage (my poor mom, she just keeps taking him back ) to give me away at my wedding. It just seemed like the biggest hypocritical move. My marriage would be based on fidelity and trust, or we would not have a marriage.

This was the most painful decision I have ever had to make. But in the end, I made the decison that was right for me. I am proud of myself for standing up for me, and what I believed was right.

Regardless of how proud I was of myself, this decison was still very painful for my mother. She begged me to change my mind, but I could not. I love my mother very very much, but she could not change how I felt about this and about my dad. Oh welll...sorry to go on too long about that. I guess I just wanted you all to understand the emotional impact of walking alone down the aisle was for me.

(I shouldnt say alone...I met my best friend, my confidant, my soul mate half way down the aisle, and we walked to the alter togehter, and it was perfect for us)

Anyway, we practiced the processional and everyone looked great. Karen, my WP was fantastic. After my parents walked arm in arm down the aisle, she closed the doors to the conference room we were in (at the GF) after announcing to everyone "We'll be right back!!! )

Karen gave me a big hug, as I stood there all alone with my silly little handmade ribbon bouquet from my shower ealier in the year. She let me know how strong I was and how much I would wow everyone tomorrow and that all eyes will be welling up with tears. She told me not to be worried. she told me to focus on that handsome guy waiting at the end of that aisle. (and the next day? Thats EXACTLY what I did)

Karen was so sweet to do that. It was exactly what I needed! Before I knew it, we were all done with the rehersal. We took a few more pics and headed out.

We said our goodbyes to Karen, and we all walked over the the POlynesain. It was so hot that day!! We were dying!!!!! I coudltn imagine having to take pictures tomorrow in a heavy dress in this heat and humidity!! WHoo!!

 

[disneyheaven]

When we got to the Polynesian, we asked Mark's brother Michael and his GF Nancy to help us get all the gifts. We gathered up everything we needed and headed downstairs to ohanas. We were sooooooooo excited to eat here! We had actually never eaten here before, but figured it would be a perfect place to have our rehersal dinner. We let the desk know we were here, and within a few minutes, we were all seated at a very long table (there was about 25 of us). I was so happy we had one big long table instead of a few smaller tables all seperated. Mark and I sat in the middle and had each of our families and friends sit to either side of us. I was so excited to get this meal started! I was hungry! (remember? the eating thing? every few hours or so!?!?!?! ) The man who was playing music was fantastic. He came around and played a slow song for Mark and I (I think he said it was a marriage song) and encouraged us to get up and do some hula dancing!
Here are some pics from the event:
Some pics of the whole table

Opening up Gifts

 

[disneyheaven]

All in all, the rehearsal was FANTASTIC!! The food was 100% delicious and everyone loved all the fun drinks the bar had to offer! I had never seen so many people drinking out of fresh coconuts at one time!! I never did do a PJ so here is what we did for gifts

The Bridesmaids: LLBean striped pocketbooks which were monogrammed with their initials (my 2 best friends were getting married within the year so I had there new last names monogrammed in) the bags were stufffed with all sorts of good stuff like lipgloss, make up, nail polish (you know, girly stuff) a pair of flip flops which i bought to match their dresses so at the receptionthey coudl slip those on and be comfy. I also bought them jewelry that they could wear tomorrow with their dresses.

The Groomsmen(and father of the groom): Handsome pocket watches which were monogrammed with their initials.

Mother of the Groom: a monogrammed bangle bracelet with the date of our wedding.

Grandparents of the bride: An engraved picture frame for them to put our wedding picture

Cousin of the bride (was doing a reading) a HUGE beer mug which had silver plated work on it which we had engraved with his initials

Parents of the bride (who I coudlt even begin to thank for helping me wtih this wedding,and giving me the best wedding a girl could every ask for) My parents had planned a trip to VEGAS about 2 months after my wedding (they said that would be THEIR vacation time!! ) so we got them a whole collection of gift certificates for their most favorite favorite restaurnts down there. Everything from Smith and Wolensky's to Margaritaville. They were excited!!


We ate and ate, and ate. and before we knew it...it was almost time for the rehersal to be over. We were sooo sad!! (but happy everyone had a good time!)

Oh my gosh, reality set in that the next time I would see many of these faces was tomorrow as I was coming down the aisle!! It took us awhile for us all to say our goodbyes, but we finially did.

Mark and I weren't ready to head home yet, so we decided to go to EPCOT with some of our friends. It took us a while to get there from the Polynesian, but it was a beautiful night so we didnt mind.

Here is a pic of me and my girls infront of the fountain in Epcot.

We stayed for a bit, walked around, and then Mark and I decided we wanted to get home. We had a big day ahead of us and wanted to make sure we got enough sleep!!! WE got back on the monorial, headed tothe MK, then headed to the Poly. It was so weird going to bed that night...we coudlnt believe that tomorrow was our wedding day!! We were emotional, we were excited, we were in disbelief!! I was heading out super early that morning so I would say goodbye to Markie for the last time that morning.

Up NExt: Our WEdding DAy!!!

 

[Maggimus]

First of all let me say that although I dont know you outside of this board-- im extremely proud to call you my internet friend. What you did by not having your dad walk you down the isle was not only took a lot of strength, but a lot of self discipline. Im glad that you stood up for what is right, regaurdless of who it is. I, too, choose to live a marriage of fidelity regaurdless of what others in society do. I dont agree with it and its one of my biggest concerns with marriages today. DH's dad and mom lived in a marriage filled with infidelity for AT LEAST 17 years (Until DH was old enough so that they could divorce). I applaud you for your courage and strong will power! Karen was so sweet to take you asside and say what she did. That really shows what a good person she is!

Second- you are cute as a button!! I love that dress-- and the matching outfits is so adorable-- your right-- hes got it bad for you O'hanas looked like tons of fun and the gifts were very appropriate. Way to go on having good taste!!

Im still hanging in here for the long haul and enjoying every moment of it I think ill eat too-- might not be at WDW... but hey, want some popcorn... I'll share