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

[Mary626]

I heard the officiant say something like “Jim and Mary – your love brings us hope!” and me and jim kind of giggled. I remember reading it in the sample ceremony she had sent us and it had sounded a little cheesy but I didn’t really feel like editing much of the wording so I left it in – but hearing it out loud being proclaimed seemed really funny to me.

I saw Jim’s best man Matt wiping his face with his handkerchief. Was he crying or sweating? I couldn’t tell. I later found out from everyone that he had been sweating profusely the whole time and the sweat was getting into his eyes and he said he blacked out at one point during the ceremony, woke up and was worried that he had missed the part with the rings. How awful! Still, thank god he didn’t faint or something!

Then it came time for the vows. Jim started out good “I, Jim, take thee Mary…. As my lawfully wedded wife” and all of a sudden Jim starts saying his vows in this kind of “news broadcaster” voice, or like Troy Mcclure from the simpsons. .. “Knowing in MY heart”… “that YOU will BE… my constant friend.. my faithful partner, and… my ONE true love..”

A part of me wanted to pinch him, but mostly I was laughing at him for being so silly. I could hear some people in the audience laughing too.. I was glad he did it though, it actually relaxed me a LOT. It was kind of like.. oh yeah.. this is who we are – we’re people who don’t take these things too seriously and who like to have fun.. It made me feel a lot less nervous.. I kept laughing but then started to think “okay you can stop now..”

At the end of the line “and my one true love” , the officiant continues forward with “on this special day”… a few seconds went by before Jim realized he was supposed to repeat the line.... he had thought those were the end of the vows lol.

(((((((((((Cut to a conversation we had on the airplane on the way down..
Me: “Hey jim, why don’t you look over the ceremony and the vows, I have them printed out right here”
Jim: “nah that’s okay, I’ll just wing it”
Me: “Are you sure? You don’t have to memorize the vows or anything, but it might help if you know the gist of how they’re going to go…. or kind of know the general length of the ceremony”
Jim: “Nah that’s okay”
Me: “okay if you think so”

HA! Proven right once again! Lol. (it was actually no big deal, I just thought I would tease him about it here))))))

Back to the ceremony..

Jim continues with the vows (there were actually a lot of them – I wanted all of our bases covered lol), and he kept going with the broadcasting voice.. finally I quietly whisper to him to “stop” while I was still smiling, and he continues in his normal voice.
I had had a feeling he was going to do something silly during vows – I knew Jim. He has said many times his main goal in life is to make sure I always stay smiling or laughing (how could I not marry this guy?) so I thought he might try to do something to get me to laugh during the vows.

 

[Mary626]

I saw the videographer, Stan, getting us from behind the best man, he was kind of in a crouched position, pointing the camera at me from below. I was thinking “oh great my worst angle” but I saw some of the video and actually really like how it turned out.

Then it was my turn to say the vows. I was in such a daze and not at all listening to the officiant – I have no idea how I managed to repeat the vows back successfully, but thankfully I did! I continued to pretend to look into Jim’s eyes as I repeated back the same vows. I kind of overemphasized the “on this special day” part to tease him a little (since that is the line he almost skipped).

I was completely on autopilot here. My mouth was speaking the words, but my brain was like “la la la la la la…”. It was like watching someone else’s wedding as it happened – I just didn’t even feel like I was really there.

I do remember for some reason finding the “provide for your needs” line in the vows to be kind of funny, and thought it kind of sounded like an innuendo, so I kind of coyly smiled at Jim as I said “provide for your needs…” , he later said that was one of his favorite moments in the wedding.

I noticed a few times while I was saying my vows that some of our guests were laughing a little or giggling. I had no idea why at the time. I found out later Jim was being silly again while I was saying my vows… Every time I would say something like “honor and respect you” he would nod his head and kind of make a silly face… I couldn’t really see him at the time because of the sun so I had no idea why people were laughing and it threw me off just a little once or twice, wondering if I was doing something wrong.

I was so glad the officiant was speaking loudly and clearly since I didn’t pay for the sound systems and I wanted my guests to be able to hear what was being said. I have been to many weddings where nobody could hear anything going on. I really liked our officiant, she was great!

Jim’s mother looking very proud and happy

 

[Mary626]

I don’t remember anything else until the time to exchange rings. This is where matt said he had blacked out, but I had no idea about it at the time.

Poor Matt was sweating profusely

The officiant asked for the rings, and matt gives them to her. The officiant said a little something about what the rings symbolized. I remember her saying something like “these rings are like circles” and me and jim kind of looked at each other again and silently laughed. The little that Jim did go over the ceremony a few days before the wedding, I remember him pointing that line out and saying “rings are circles? No way…” or something about it being kind of redundant.. I hadn’t thought about it when I chose the wordings for the ceremony. So it was just kind of a momentary inside thing between me and jim during the ceremony.

Ignore the blue bar thing on the bottom of the pic

Jim goes to put the ring on my finger while repeating the “with this ring I thee wed” vows. His hands were a little shaky, he was nervous.. how cute!

 

[Mary626]

Then it’s my turn and I take the ring and all of a sudden I’m thinking “crap! Which hand is the left hand?” (I normally know which hand is the left hand LOL).. Jim sees my momentary hesitation and moves his left hand forward. Woo saved again, thanks Jim!

Me putting the ring on Jim’s finger

 

[Mary626]

The officiant says some more stuff, I don’t remember what, and then we get to the Unity candle lighting ceremony Sue and my mother had walked down the aisle together at the beginning of the ceremony to the song “Circle of Life” and both lit one side of the candle. The officiant tells us that we would now light the unity candle. I heard a few verses of “Can you feel the love tonight”. I lit my side taper, but as I moved it forward the wind blew it out. I tried it once again, and it blew out again. The third time, I lit it, the wind blows it out again and I think “to heck with it” and just move it to jim’s candle and pretend that it’s lit. Jim’s was lit, so we put our tapers together, and his fire lights the unity candle. So technically it wasn’t a unity candle, but no-one noticed and it was just a symbol after all.

When I pretended to light it with Jim's as he lit the unity candle, the fire also lit my candle's wick. So as I took my taper out, I forgot, I wasn't supposed to blow my candle out, I was supposed to give it to Jim to blow out , so it wouldn't set my veil or hair on fire or anything LOL. I blew it out though, but then Jim took it from me and layed them both down together. Luckily nothing caught on fire lol.

Stay lit, darn it, stay lit!!

Jim couldn’t block me from the sun during this part so I was squinting the whole time

During all of this I was able to actually listen to the music being played – they were doing a great rendition of “can you feel the love tonight” . Since it was the only music I remember actually hearing during the ceremony itself, this is the song that makes me cry when I hear it now! I hadn’t realized what a prominent role this song would take or I may have chosen a different song for it, but it is what it is now, and now this song stands out in my memory and reminds me of my wedding more then any of the other songs played.

Our guitar & Flute musicians

 

[Mary626]

We go back to our places in front of the officiant, and she announces us.. “I now have the honor of introducing Mary and Jim as husband and wife!” … I think people started to clap but I could be wrong..

….….and then she says “Jim you may now kiss your bride!” – I kissed Jim for a while, making sure to give the cameras enough time to get the shot – but also I was really enjoying the kiss . I think that was actually my favorite part of the ceremony.

We turn to the audience and Joann tells everyone to get their rose petals ready and to toss them at us as we walk back up the aisle. I heard one verse of “main street electrical parade” being played (but not enough to remember what it sounds like). Jenny hands me my bouquet. I noticed people weren’t at all prepared to throw the rose petals, so me and Jim linger a moment at the altar giving people a chance to prepare.

Jenny & lisa fixing the train of my dress

We didn’t want to wait too long though, just standing their and looking stupid, so we slowly started walking up the aisle. Some people got to throw them at us, but most of them missed their chance. When watching the little bit of the video I have, I did notice one thing I thought was funny, we were already a few feet past where Jim’s 9 year old nephew William was, he took out the rose petals and threw them as hard as he possibly could at our backs, trying to get us.. lol he really wanted to throw them!

I look completely retarded in this picture, but you can see the rose petals being tossed in the air

After watching the video, I noticed Jim’s reaction to the rose petal toss, he kept pretending to be offended and confused as to why people were throwing rose petals at him, so he has a look of “what the heck?!” on his face through half of it lol

Edited to add some of the pro pics:

 

[Mary626]

We walk over the bridge and the groomsmen, bridesmaids, and parents follow behind.

Our coordinator’s assistant was there and she escorted me and Jim off to the side by the courtyard. I remember saying “Yay, we’re married!” to Jim.

I couldn’t believe how quickly it had gone by! It was such a complete blur. You spend a year planning it, and all day celebrating it, but the ceremony itself always seems very very short!!! I looked at the time-stamps on our digital photos and I was present at the ceremony for only 14 minutes. I appeared on the bridge at 9:13 and thirty seconds and exited over the bridge with my new husband at 9:27 and thirty-nine seconds. 14 minutes and 9 seconds!! Way too short!! I couldn’t even begin to process it. 14 minutes!! That's shorter then the 15 minute breaks you take at work... and that's all it took to get married and enter into a new phase in your life.. that's way too short! But everything was so beautiful and we had all day to celebrate it...


I was married!! Everything was so beautiful!! I didn't trip!!! There was so much to think and talk about, but first it was time for more pictures!!


The guests headed back to the bus for the pre-reception at Martha’s Vineyard, while the parents and bridal party stayed behind with us for more pictures.

The bridal party and parents assemble for pictures

meanwhile the guests head back to the chartered bus to be taken to Martha’s Vineyard at the Beach Club for the pre-reception

Our friend Clare snapped this picture of us as the guests walked out, I love this shot for some reason it is one of my favorites

We waited for the guests to file out. Jim couldn’t stop smiling. I told Jim how handsome he looked. Then I kind of waited. And waited some more. Said something else, and then waited some more. Finally I said “Jim, do I look pretty?” lol – I know, what a way to fish for a compliment. Jim was like “yes, you look absolutely amazing!!” and said he thought he told me that already since that was all he was thinking about. I was like “nope” but I was just being silly, I knew his mind was a million miles away like mine was, and we really didn’t have any time alone by ourselves until an hour after the ceremony to talk about things.

Coming up... more picture taking.. a happy surprise announcement.. where's my ring?? and more

 

[Mommy Poppins]

OMG Mary! You guys are absolutely beautiful! What a very nice, elegant wedding! I almost feel like I was part of it just by reading your report and looking at the pictures!!! Thank you for sharing with us!!

 

[JJClemson]

Awe, Mary, your ceremony was beautiful! You two look so wonderful and so happy in love

 

[Jesussavedme]

Wonderful. just wonderful! Thank you so much for sharing. Gosh I think we all must feel like we know you now and kind of feels like we were there to share it with you!!!

I gotta tell you, the one picture really baffled me for a minute. It's the 2nd picture of you of post #182, where you are saying your vows. I thought to myself...How pretty! She must have angel wings in back of her gown! They're like...feathery angel wings. ..... Or is it her veil??? Only then do I page down and realize it's your officiants HAIR!!!

I hope you get a chuckle too.

You were one beautiful and happy bride and I wish you and Jim many blessings and many happy years of marriage!

 

[sarah_n_brian2006]

I Love It !!!!!! I Love It!!!!!!

 

[hmgolden]

More please!

These are great Mary. You made a beautiful bride.

 

[LUV2DZNEE]

Absolutely beautiful, Mary! Keep the reports coming. I've never had so much fun attending a wedding!

If you don't mind my asking, were you concerned about Jim being able to fit your wedding ring on over your glove? My DH was barely able to get my ring over my knuckle so I know he wouldn't have gotten it on with a glove! I would be afraid if it fit my finger with a glove on, it would be too big without a glove. Just curious.

 

[heatherlynn444]

Loved it, loved the pictures! can't wait for more! it all looks so beautiful! Everyone keeps telling me the day will be a blur and go by so fast but I want it to go by slow! (wishful thinking! )

 

[Mary626]

Thank you everyone!

jesussavedme- that is so funny I can totally see what you're talking about!! I'm so glad you pointed that out to me! When I was five years old I dressed up as an angel for halloween and I have a picture of myself from then that looks very similar to the picture you pointed out. It's just kind of cool I think! Thank you for your kind words as well!

LUV2DZNEE - I actually got the ring made one size bigger so it would fit over my glove. I'm not sure how most people do it, but that seemed like the easiest thing for me to do. I think it's easier to make a ring smaller then to make it bigger.


Here is a little bit more from after the ceremony...



We took some more pictures in the courtyard with everyone, in different combinations. Quite a few times, the photographer would put us in a position and take our picture, and then Chris or one of the parents would tell us to wait while they snapped a picture with their digital camera. I was like “I’m paying Randy to do that, we don’t have a lot of time to take pictures!”. I didn’t mind if they wanted to take candids from the side, but they kept getting in the photographers way and it was kind of annoying. Chris later half-jokingly complained about the photographer being in all of his pictures.. I was like… “Chris, that was his JOB! I was paying him to take pictures!” What an odd thing to complain about!! I’m glad Chris took pictures but really! Lol. A few times, Jim accidentally kicked my toe and it hurt! His shoes he rented from afterhours were really pointy!

Jim & me getting our picture taken in the italy courtyard

We’re all looking at different cameras in a lot of these

Me, Jim, and my sisters

 

[Mary626]

the bridesmaids

Lisa & her bridesmaid bouquet

Jo

Janiece

Jim’s dad, barry

Chris has a knack for being in pictures on his camera.. I have no pictures of myself onmy own camera, and on Chris’s camera he’s in every shot!

Jim kept putting his arm around me and would put his hand over my veil, and Randy had to keep reminding him to put the hand under the veil.. under the veil.. Towards the end of the photos Jim finally started to get the hang of it! A few times I put my arm around him I would notice that my invisible deoderant would leave some white residue on him. I wiped it off and luckily it came off really easily. So much for it being invisible!!
Later on some of the groomsmen noticed they had white stuff on their jackets too.. Well I didn’t have my arm around them, so maybe it was something else, no idea what. Something from their corsage maybe? It remains a mystery…

The bridal party was being pretty silly while we were taking the pictures.. the groomsmen decided to do their “Groomsmen T-shirt poses” again for one of the digital cameras.. Randy saw them doing it and wanted them to do it again for his camera.

The groomsmen’s t-shirt (being modeled by Jim) that they were mimicking

Janiece being silly again

 

[Mary626]

About ten minutes into the picture taking, when randy was taking pictures of just me and Jim together… my sister Lisa was on her cell phone listening to her voice mail and all of a sudden she screams “NO WAY!!!!!! RACHEL had her baby, IT’S A GIRL!!!!” on the top of her lungs. That was so cool!!!

Rachel is my brother’s wife… I had chosen the date for my wedding around June last year and had asked Rachel to be one of my bridesmaids… In late September, Rachel calls and says “Alex (my nephew) is going to be a brother!” and I was like “that’s so wonderful, congratulations!!”.. and then she says “and guess what the due date is…. April 24th!”.. (April 24th was the day of my wedding)…. I was still happy for them obviously but that meant that her and my brother and their son wouldn’t be able to make it to the wedding.. She told me that the likelihood of actually having the baby on the wedding date was really low.. And since she had to have a C-section for medical reasons, they actually had it scheduled for April 26th, when my family would be back in Michigan to be there for them. But of course you can’t always decide what day your baby will be born on, and their baby decided it wanted to come out on my wedding day!! The time of her birth was around 8:45 – she was born right as our guests were being seated for the ceremony.

After Lisa announced that Rachel had her baby, I think we all cheered and my mom just looked so happy!! So that was really cool! I had a niece!! But we still only had a little time at Italy to take pictures, so back to picture taking!!
‘

Janiece being silly as the photographer took more pics of me and jim

Jim’s parents being silly

My friend Jo and sister Lisa – they almost look related in a lot of these photos

 

[Mary626]

We went over to the Isola for more pictures around the altar. It was hard not to squint since the sun was glaring down at us. I would stay in Jim’s shadow until a second before randy snapped the photo, Then I would step just a little forward so I was in the sun, he’d snap the picture, and I’d go back in Jim’s shadow. Hopefully that way I wasn’t squinting and my face wasn’t shadowy!

I like this picture it’s kind of artsy

While on the isola, Stan asked us to stand where our altar had been and very very slowly kiss each other. I saw a little bit of this footage, he started out zoomed in on spaceship earth and slowly zoomed out as Jim and I started to kiss, it is a great shot!!!

The one thing that bothers me about the shot is that the Disney people had already moved one of the flower arrangements so they could take it to the reception…

Until I get the professional photos back, this shot is one of my favorites.. so until I get the pro ones, I photoshopped the flower arrangement back in for now

At one point on the Isola I looked down on my glove and noticed my ring was missing! I really wasn’t that concerned. Jim and I know about three different friends who all said they lost their ring during their honeymoon. Jim and I decided to buy cheap rings for the ceremony and save our money. We both decided we could invest in nicer rings later on if we wanted to. And I mostly wear my engagement ring by itself anyway – it’s an antique ring and it looks kind of weird with a wedding band next to it. So we bought our wedding rings on ebay for 20 bucks - yep! So I wasn’t that worried when I lost it, but thought it was funny that I lost it so soon after the ceremony. I said outloud “I lost my ring” kind of matter-of-factly, but it was so funny, all the groomsmen jumped into action and started scouring the isola for it with a look of panic on their faces – just thinking about their reaction cracks me up. I said “it’s okay it was only twenty bucks” but as soon as I said that, Randy found it right by my feet. Thanks, Randy! I was glad he found it though, even if we later buy nicer rings, it’s nice to have the original ones around for sentimental value.

We saw the epcot-segway-tour people going by and they waved to us. Jim and I waved back and they shouted “congratulations!”

At this point, the bridal party and parents were going to head back on the bus and head to the pre-reception while Jim and I stayed behind. The Disney people were taking down the chairs and decorations and moving our flower altar arrangement and unity candles to the reception site. The unity candle table still had one of the hurricane globes in it. We were backing up to take one more picture, and my pregnant sister Jenny bumped into the table and the hurricane globe that was on the edge of table fell and shattered. Jenny felt so bad and apologized to the Disney employee that was moving the items. The guy just kind of huffed and looked like he was really annoyed and didn’t say anything. This made me so mad!! I’ve worked in retail plenty of times and had customer break things and have never reacted like that, I always say “it’s okay” or “don’t worry about it”. I asked Jenny if she was okay and then I said loudly so the guy might hear “You’re the one that’s PREGNANT who cares about the glass, as long as you and your precious cargo are okay”. Stupid jerk! And at our wedding too… just very very rude of him.


The bridal party left and Randy took a few more of me and Jim over the bridge of the isola and some far away shots that I can’t wait to see. We took a few more by the courtyard, and Jim kicked my toe again, It reaaaaaaaly hurt this time!! Randy was taking a picture and then stopped because of the look on my face LOL. Actually it will be pretty funny if he did get that picture.. I don’t know why they make groomsmen shoe’s so pointy! Speaking of feet, my feet were starting to hurt in general anyway. Me and high-heels do not get along!! I couldn’t wait to change into the bridal slippers that were in the bag my mom had taken with her.

Chris & the bridal party leaving on the chartered bus to head to the pre-reception.. Speaking of the chartered bus, someone just mentioned to me the other day that the bus was playing a really strange selection of strange or inappropriate music. One of the songs the Disney BUS played was from the southpark movie , it was the “kyle’s mom’s a b****” song. A few guests mentioned that to me. I was like, are you sure it wasn’t someone’s ipod or something, but they all said it was the bus.. How WEIRD!!!! Maybe the bus driver had a strange sense of humour.

I’m not sure what time it was when we left the isola, but I wanted to take some pictures by the yacht & beach club, around the lighthouse area, and I knew we didn’t have a lot of time to do that before the reception started.

We head to the limo and the coordinator’s assistant asks what we want to drink when we arrived at the beach club. Jim and I both said water was fine. How nice of them!

Jim and I get in the limo and Randy leaves to get in his car to drive to the Beach Club.

 

[Octoberbeauty]

I absolutely LOVE all the candid, goofy shots. They add so much personality to your wedding memories that you'll cherish forever.

I'm going to be sad when you actually get done with your report. lol

 

[2BWEDDNDIS]

Absolutely Beautiful Mary!!