Trip report - "Dreams do come true" (video complete - pg 45)

[Mary626]

Without a word from the limo driver, he starts to pull forward. Ahhh I was on my way!! The wedding was finally, FINALLY here!!


The limo pulled up past the American adventure and headed towards Italy. I could see the Isola out of the limo's windows on the left side... – I didn’t expect to be able to see anything until I got out – I could see guests and everyone standing there, there was Jim!!! He looked so handsome!!!! Seeing him standing there made me so happy. Wow everyone was there and it was really happening!

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More later on... I better get back to actually being productive!

 

[BeckWhy]

Maybe you already said this and I missed it. How many guests did you have? How come no flower girl or ring barer? Do the guests of the wedding need a park ticket to get into Epcot for the wedding?

 

[pezzapixiedust]

hi mary, fab report, it is such a good read, congratulations to you and jim, i wish you all the happiness in the world xx

 

[Mary626]

Maybe you already said this and I missed it. How many guests did you have? How come no flower girl or ring barer? Do the guests of the wedding need a park ticket to get into Epcot for the wedding?

We had about 47 guests -but since 8 of them were in the bridal party, there were only about 39 actually sitting down. I was going to have my brother's son (my nephew) be a ring bearer, but then 3 months after I picked the date for our wedding, his wife finds out she's pregnant again, and her due date.... April 24th (same day as my wedding!!!)... More on that a little later in the trip report ... I didn't really know anyone the right age for flower girl.. Jim's neice Mia would have been the right age, but I had never met that side of Jim's family before and it would have been weird asking them, and it's not like I absolutely needed to have a flower girl. It didn't really matter to me if I had them or not.

Guests did not need to have admission tickets to get into epcot.. we were there BEFORE the park opened (world showcase opens at 11 am), and had to be out before it opened to the public. The chartered bus drove them in, and it drove them out, so no admission tickets needed

 

[timandlesley]

Mary I feel like I know you and Jim now. I LOVE reading this report and am not being productive at work today either : ) because I keep checking to see if you have updated it yet. I LOVE the pic's and details, amazing! Can't wait to see you walk down the isle. Bet the reception at Ariel's will be fun too!!!! Thanks for sharing with us.

 

[disneyheaven]

Oh Mary! This is just perfect!!!!!!! My gosh, I just cant believe how similiar our weddings are (well, mine hasnt happened yet but when it does, it will be similiar! ) I said before our bridesmaid dresses are sooo similiar with styling and colors....I def want those same tuxs for the boys....and my dress has that gorgeous "apron front" opening too...such an elegent look on you. We are each having 4 attendance (so 8 total standing for us) and we are having just about 48 guests...and our wedding reception is at ARiels!! I cant wait to see the Ariel's pictures!!! Oh my gosh I just cant wait!! You have done such an incredible job with these posts!! I am at work right now. My first graders are at library and the librarian is teaching them about fiction and non fiction. I should be lending her a hand with my muchkins, but nope! Im sitting here reading every word you're writing! I'm hooked!!! So what if a lose my job?!? I got to read an awesome disboard trip report! "Sorry first grade class! Mary edited and updated her post so I will be with you in a minute" Hahah. Alright hun I have to run. One of my muchkins is about to have a tamtrum. I have to interject THank you so much for doing this report. I think is speak for everyone when I say, you have given us all something to look forward too!!!

 

[wasabi girl]

Hey Mary,

Foprget being productive....we're all dying to hear the rest! I have to say, I love your Trip report, your pics, I feel like I was right there. And I never read trip reports...my attention span is waaay too short. But you have a knack for putting heart and humor in your writing...I've been married for nearly 25 years and your report almost makes me wish I could start over...
Congratulations!

 

[Snoopygirl]

Mary----I am loving your wedding trip report!!! I can't wait to hear the next installments and see more pics. By the way, you look beautiful and so does the wedding party!!! CONGRATS!!!

 

[JJClemson]

As if you have not heard this enough already.... you look absolutely STUNNING! Your pictures, writing, and everything else is AMAZING! I am having so much fun reading this. I feel like I am reading a book (one w/ beautiful pictures ) but I am only allowed to read one chapter of the book at a time! This is so great, Mary! I love the anticipation of what's to come next!

 

[jackdis]

Mary....I had tears in my eyes looking at your wonderful photos. You look so beautiful!!!! I will think of you when we are in Epcot next month!

 

[slk537]

Thank you!!! I just love your trip report - it is so honest and entertaining and I absolutely enjoy all the photos!

You were such a gorgeous bride and you look so happy. Thanks for sharing!

 

[FutureMrsC]

Mary,

I agree with everyone- your pictures are GORGEOUS! Everything looks (and sounds) so lovely!

I can't wait to read more!

 

[Beana9802]

Oooh, just two days away Mrs. C! SO EXCITING! Tell us all about it (Well, right now we're learning about Mary's wedding)....but you'll have to tell us about POR and PI when you get back! YAY! (wedding dance)

 

[Mary626]

disneyheaven - Your wedding sounds beautiful, I'm so excited for you!! I know it will be wonderful! I think it's amazing how so many of us have had similar types of Disney weddings and yet each one is unique and completely unlike every other wedding. That's so funny about your first grade class! I'm really glad you are enjoying the report and thank you so much for your comments!

wasabi girl - thank you so much and congratulations on 25 years - that is amazing!!

FutureMrsC - Thank you!!! wow you're wedding is almost here, that is so cool!! I hope you have an absolutely amazing day!!

Thank you again EVERYONE - I really can't thank you all enough for your compliments!!

I was so happy today!!! Although I haven't seen any professional photos or video yet, one of our friends lent us his video tape of the footage he got from the wedding.. It was the FIRST time I FINALLY got to see anything from the ceremony before I walked down the aisle.. Like I mentioned, I couldn't hear or see anything that was going on until it was time for me and my dad to walk down. So watching the amateur footage of the video was bringing tears to my eyes, and I could FINALLY hear what the music sounded like!!! We were watching it with Jim's aunt who couldn't make it to the wedding and she was bawling - it was really sweet too

Anyway it just really made me happy to see it.. I'm glad I wrote out the trip report before I watched the footage though, so I could keep seperate the way I remember it from the way it actually happened..

Sorry it is taking a while, uploading the pictures and copying and pasting the links to them is a little time-consuming or I would have them up much quicker! And since my mother in law is throwing an "at-home-reception" for us tomorrow I don't think I'll be able to update until Sunday.

Hope everyone has a great weekend and again, THANK YOU!!

 

[Beana9802]

Mary...Yay for wedding party #2!!! Fun times roll again! Enjoy!

 

[karentan]

hope you had a great at home reception, cant wait for more installments!!!

 

[Mary626]

Thanks beana and karentan, the home-reception was a lot of fun!! Maybe if I ever finish this trip report I'll include some pics of it at the end


Okay, I have another installment ready. I hope it is okay! I really wish I could include some professional pictures!!!!! Most of the pictures in these next few posts were taken by my sister’s husband, Kevin. He was sitting on the bride’s side therefore they are all of the back of my head!! I grabbed some screen captures of Stan’s five minute DVD he gave us of our ceremony. You’ll be able to tell which ones those are. While the DVD looks GREAT on my tv and was filmed in HDTV (which I highly recommend) – the screen grab program I have makes them very small resolution. Anyway, Hopefully one day I will be able to update these posts with some professional photos! okay, on to the trip report...




Previously...... Jim & the groomsmen waiting patiently for the bride..

The limo with me and my father in it pulled up behind the bridge. The coordinator opened up the door that was facing away from the bridge so nobody could see us clumsily getting out. The coordinator helped my dad get out first and went over with him what he was going to do, and she reminded him “You go on the right side of Mary, the right side...” My dad was going to walk over the bridge by himself and then meet me at the bottom to escort me down the aisle.


The coordinator helped me out of the limo after my dad got out. It wasn’t time for me to walk over the bridge yet though, so I kind of leaned down just a little so noone would see me over the limo. I could see the tops of the guests and groomsmen’s head so I assumed they’d be able to see me a little. I don’t think anyone saw me, but had they seen me I would have looked pretty dumb

edited to add pic: me getting out of limo

I couldn't hear it, but the musicians were playing their rendition of "a whole new world". My dad walked over the bridge and waited for me on the otherside.

I walked past the limo and wasn’t sure if people could see me or not yet. The coordinator then reminded me that my Dad went on the right side, and told me to start walking. I don’t know why, but I asked the coordinator what side of the bridge to walk over, and she told me to walk up the center. I had always pictured it in my head walking on the left side so I could use the railing for support, so I really should have done what I was most comfortable with, but went up the center anyway. It kind of made me feel off balance and I was having a hard time going up the stairs without stepping on the bottom of the front of my dress each time I moved up one step. Stupid stairs! I heard the coordinator asked me if I needed help, but I pulled up my dress a little more so I wouldn’t trip over it and then I was fine. Not off to a very graceful start! Okay I made it to the top of the bridge!

me walking toward bridge:

After that, I decided to heck with it, and went over to the left to use the railing for support. It was more for mental support then anything but it made me feel much better. Walking down the stairs was much easier then walking up the stairs, but I still took my time, determined not to trip. Since I was worried about tripping, I didn’t hear any of the music and I couldn’t look at anyone since I kept my eyes on the stairs. My thought process was “please don’t trip please don’t trip please don’t trip”…

I couldn't see Jim yet since I was staring at my feet (pretty much lol), but I watched his reaction on our five minute video summary and it was precious! Hard to show it in pictures, hopefully one day the video will be online.. Jim’s face when he saw me

Okay I didn't trip, wooo.. thank goodness.. hopefully the hard part was over....

 

[Mary626]

I get to the bottom of the stairs and look up and see everyone recording me, taking pictures of me, or just smiling at me. It was a surreal moment.

Me smiling at my dad

My dad puts out his arm to escort me, but darnit he’s on the left side! I whisper to him “go on my right side, Dad” and he says “are you sure?” I kept smiling and through pursed lips said “yes” and he starts saying “I don’t think so honey- “ I cut him off and just kind of forcibly pushed him to my right side and started walking down the aisle before he can say anything else, smiling the whole time. Why didn’t he just listen to me, LOL. It felt like a long time, but when I saw some of the video you couldn’t notice it at all.

Me and my dad

The way the ceremony was arranged, due to the ugly construction wall being on the left bridge…. The guests and altar was facing the lagoon towards spaceship earth.. the bridge I walked over was kind of adjacent on the right, so my path was kind of an “L shaped”. I walked behind some of my guests before making a sharp right and walking down the real “aisle”. Before I reached the point where I turned right, I remember looking into the audience and just told myself to keep smiling. It was weird having everybody just staring at me. For some reason what stands out in my mind during this part was Jim’s friend Stevie just smiling at me very sweetly, like I could tell she was thinking I was beautiful, at least that’s what it looked like. That made me feel kind of good so I just kept eye contact with her for a while and concentrated on that.

I look like the Joker in a lot of these pictures darnit

 

[Mary626]

We turn right and this is the first time that I actually noticed the music playing. It was “A Whole New World” being played by a guitar and flute duo. It was really good, I started to choke up just a little. Jim and I chose this song because we both love to sing, and every time we’re on our way to Disneyland (we live about an hour away from it here in LA), we put on some Disney music to sing to on the way there. When this song comes on we always sing it as a duo, (Jim sings aladdin’s part and I sing jasmain’s part, obviously lol). It’s incredibly cheesey and dorky but I love it. One of the things that made me fall in love with Jim was the fact that he knew the lyrics to Disney songs! Even really obscure songs like “I am Professor Ludwig Von Drake” etc. He even learned the lyrics to “It’s a Jolly Holiday with Mary” (From Mary Poppins) just so he could sing it to me. Like I said, very cheesey, but I love it! Anyway…

I saw Jim and smiled at him. I reall don’t’ remember much of this part it was a blur. When I watched the video I noticed everyone stood up as I walked down the rest of the way towards Jim, I didn’t remember it at the time. I only choked up for a second and then we were pretty much down the aisle before I knew it.

We turn down the aisle and I see jim!

Everyone stood up as I walked down the aisle. You can see Italy in the back

The officiant asks who was giving me away, and my dad said “her mother and I do” – woohoo he got it right! My dad kisses me on the cheek and places my hand in Jim’s.

 

[Mary626]

Here is the ONLY good photo I have so far of the backdrop of our altar. You can really see SpaceShip Earth (the big epcot ball) in the frame of our altar, which is exactly what we were aiming for. Most of the photos I’ve posted here are taken at an angle so you can’t see the center of our backdrop. I really hope the professional photographer got some shots like this one.

Here's another one ..

The officiant whispers for me to give my bouquet to Jenny so I do. Then Jim and I faced the officiant. She whispers to us to face each other. Hey, that wasn’t what the coordinator said at rehearsal, but oh well lol. I’m sure noone noticed that either.

I face Jim and realize the Sun is blaring directly into my eyes. Jim was so sweet , he notices that I’m squinting so he moves forward and positions himself so he’s blocking me from the sun. So glad he noticed and that he’s taller then me!! It was so sweet of him. Jim was just a silhouette to me, but I did my best to pretend to be looking into his eyes.

I heard the officiant talking, but it felt a world away. I knew she was reading "The art of a good marriage" - but I was dazing out and couldnt' follow along at all. So I listened to the music that was coming from Future World, like “beauty and the beast” instead. I remember concentrating on that while I looked into the dark silhouette figure that I knew was Jim. I was thinking how cool it was that I was finally there at epcot marrying my man! I kept thinking about how lucky I was. I wasn’t really paying attention to what the officiant was saying – I was in a complete daze. Luckily one part of my brain was on autopilot and was following along, although it certainly wasn’t conscious. I do remember wishing the sun wasn’t in my eyes so that I could see Jim. I just hoped I wasn’t squinting in all the pictures! I felt bad for the bridesmaids, they were staring in the same direction as me and they didn’t have anyone to stand in front of them and block it, I was hoping it wasn’t too bad for them.

Some of the bridesmaids squinting from the sun

you can kind of see our flower arrangements behind Janiece & Chris