Lori & Kevin's Disney Wedding Trip Report

[wdwpluto]

Just to make things simple, I'm going to post all parts of the trip report here instead of separate threads!

The cast of characters:

Me (Lori), 26, obsessive Disney planner, Pluto nut, been to the World 10 or so times

Kevin, DH, 30, FIRST trip to the World!

Mom, my DM, 40-something Disney addict, Contemporary Resort lover and she who writes the (wedding related) checks, been to the world 8 or so times

Jen, 26, Lori’s best friend from college and Matron of Honor, second trip to WDW

Chris, 27, Jennifer’s husband, second trip to WDW, our Best Man

Johnathan, 15 months, Jennifer & Christopher’s son and my Godson, first trip to WDW

Bob – Chris’ dad, our personal videographer for the day and his wife Vanessa (Johnathan’s personal baby sitter).

Kate (katiekat), Lori’s dear friend and fellow Disney psycho, erm, nut

Michelle, Lori & Kevin’s Fairytale Wedding’s coordinator. Rosie, our Disney Florist and Gary Fox our photographer.

And other family members that play minor supporting roles. Kev’s family were no shows for the wedding so all the family I talk about here is mine.

Pre-trip

This wedding has been in the planning stages since we got engaged January 2001. The last few months flew by and the big day snuck up on us pretty quick.

Friday 11/1 was the last day of work before vacation – could this day have been any longer? I was so freaking restless and I got NO work done. My boss told me that if I could, I should leave early. Who was I to argue?

Saturday 11/2 - Mom and I picked up our dresses. And for the rest of the weekend (and Monday) Kevin and I packed and relaxed (and did some cleaning up around the house) We went to sleep early Monday night. Tuesday was gonna be a long day!

Tuesday 11/5

Long, long day!

We both actually got some sleep last night. We passed out by 10. But oy, when that alarm went off at 3am, it still hurt. BUT knowing that we were on our way made it seem not so bad.

Our cab came at 4am. We made insanely good time from Lodi, NJ to LGA – 22 minutes! We were both excited at this point, but still rather sleepy.

We checked in at the counter and got through security ok. The guy made a joke about no body bags on the plane (my dress). 2 bottles of water, a croissant and $9 later, we felt a bit more awake and more human.

We boarded the plane (not full which was nice) and I folded my dress bag in thirds and put it in an overhead compartment. (It was being steamed in Florida by Carolyn Allen's, so no worries – ok, I was still a bit worried) The flight departed more or less on time at 6:10am

Smooth flight. We landed about 5 minutes early. Headed down to baggage claim (riding the monorail to baggage claim made things start to sink in a bit for me – We’re in Disney World!) Our Tiffany Towncar driver was waiting for us (two thumbs up for Tiffany’s awesome service, I would totally recommend them).

He helped us w/ our luggage and got the car and we were on our way to the Kissimmee courthouse. It was a gorgeous, perfect day! We got to the courthouse with no problems and were in and out in about 10 minutes with our license and a bag of newlywed goodies (gladware, pepto bismol chewables and laundry detergent How odd is that?) And we’re off to Disney!

A short drive later, we arrive at the Coronado Springs resort! It’s such a gorgeous resort! We check in and our room’s not ready yet, so we store our luggage. Now at this point, it’s around 11am or so and we’ve been up since 3am. But we’re still going! So we grab some bagels and juice from the Pepper Market. We eat outside in the Florida sun sitting by the side of Lago Dorado, CSR’s lake.

We hop a bus to MGM – wow, we’re REALLY HERE! Took some pics of Kev by the sorcerer’s hat and headed over to Rockin’ Rollercoaster for our first ride of the day (pretty much a walk on). Now this is my favorite ride, but Kev is a little adverse to anything with a significant G-force because of an old football head injury. But he was such a trooper and rode this with me. He enjoyed it, but I don’t think he’d ever do it again. Next was Tower of Terror with maybe a 20-minute wait. We headed over to Muppet Vision but the line was out the door (In all my trips, I’ve never seen a line like that for Muppets - well it was Jersey week!)

Did I mention that it’s hot? And humid? We both needed showers and some rest and some food. Not necessarily in that order!

So over to Star Tours, which was maybe a 10-min wait. Kev loved this and it’s one of my favorites too. So now it’s 1pm and we’re killing time till our 2pm PS. Food? Did someone say food?

Hit the Great Movie Ride and got off in perfect time to go check in for our PS at the 50’s Prime Time Café. We barely waited 5 mins to be seated (not wearing the wedding mouse ears yet, they were packed). We had a great "Uncle" and the food was fabulous! Kev had the meatloaf and I had the fried chicken. We were both bummed that we had no room for s’mores, but it was VERY HOT OUT and we didn’t want to overstuff ourselves and feel sick.

So now that we’d eaten, it was about 3:30 and the room should be ready. Headed back over to CSR and got our room. Bell Services drove us and our luggage over to Cabana 8B, room 8670. No upgrade for us, but the room could not be more perfect! Right by bus stop #4 and 1/2 way between the food court and the main pool (the Dig Site) and a quiet pool right next to us! WOW!

So we showered, unpacked and relaxed. About 5:30 we headed out to explore the resort. Who’s on the balcony? My father! Their rooms were right next to ours! Not good, not good at all, but we weren’t moving! (We have issues with my father and step mother and let's just say they were both lucky to be invited and leave it at that)

My dad and stepmother traveled with my granny and my Aunt Maureen. Turns out they’d sat for 5 hours in the airport because they didn’t check in and get seat assignments thanks to my dad’s brilliance. They ended up taking a 1st class bump and getting $500/each flight vouchers, but my granny was not happy (75 years old, spending the day in the airport is a bit rough on the body)

We showed my granny & aunt the main pool and Kev and I played in the arcade a bit. It had rained while we were getting cleaned up, so the mosquitoes were out in full force.

Now we deviated from the plans! We were supposed to go back to MGM to see Fantasmic (which we never did see) but since we had dinner ressies @ the Cali Grill @ the Contemp, MK seemed like an easier choice. So we caught the 7pm MK fireworks and I cried. It was all so amazing and perfect and I couldn’t believe that it was all really happening and that I was standing there on Main Street with my soon to be husband and that we were getting married in the happiest place on earth.

We wandered through the Emporium and walked over to the Contemporary resort…

and I've got to go get ready for work, I'll be back with more later!

Lori

 

[LisaLovesDisney]

Lori,,
Sounds wonderful so far,,can't wait to hear the rest!!! ~Lis

 

[wdwpluto]

Thanks Lisa!

So where was I? Oh yes, at the Contemporary. Mom was staying there so we gave her a buzz and she invited us up to her room.

Great Disney Magic story here. Mom had paid for a Garden Wing. When she got to the hotel (after a rather turbulent flight and nearly missing her connection in Atlanta) she said "I sure hope you’ve got a smoking room for me!" They did, but it wasn’t ready. So she plopped down on the couch across from the desk and went about organizing her stuff a bit so she could check stuff w/ bell services and head to the part.

A few minutes later, the guy from the desk says "Mrs. S, don’t go anywhere". She goes over and he says, "we’ve got one smoking room that’s ready and I’m just going to have to upgrade you to the tower!" Wowza! Mom was thrilled!

Soooooo… we go up to see her fabulous room and it’s got a PERFECT view of the MK (castle and all!) She’d just finished watching fireworks from her balcony. So if you’re ever booked in the Contemporary Tower request room 4428 on the 8th floor for an AWESOME MK view!

So we chatted w/ Mom a bit, drooled over her view and then the 3 of us headed to the Outer Rim for a drink. Then of course, we hit the gift shops

Soon we parted ways as Kev and I were off to dinner with Dad, Harriet (step mom), Granny & Aunt Maureen (Mom had been invited but declined) We met up with the gang at the Cali Grill – lucky Mom bumped into them at the hotel after we split up and they practically begged her to come to dinner. (She’s like, um, doesn’t he understand that I divorced him for a reason? Oy!) Anyway, dinner @ Cali Grill was 2 thumbs up! The sushi appetizer was awesome, we also shared the pork rolls and one of the flat breads and they were delish! Kev had the filet mignon and I had the (incredibly awesome) pumpkin ravioli! Very full, no dessert for us.

Apparently my dad & Harriet had a fight earlier so she pouted all night. Which was kinda nice because she hardly said two words. It was a much more enjoyable meal than Kevin or I expected. We squeezed all 6 of us into dad’s rental car and they drove us back to CSR. We got back at 11:30pm, having been up since 3am. We crashed. Slept like a log!

 

[wdwpluto]

Wednesday 11/6

Really, slept like a rock last night. I was up at 6 – stoopid internal alarm clock And Kev slept till maybe 7:30am. We didn’t do any parks today since it was rehearsal day. Planned on swimming and lounging, unfortunately it rained on and off and off and on all day. So we hung out in the room mostly.

Had a mani @ the CSR spa at 11am. Great job and very relaxing. I was strangely calm at this point, just like any other day. Wedding, what wedding?

2pm Rex from Disney cosmetology came to our room to chat with me. I showed him my trial pics and we talked for a bit, just to get clear on what I wanted for the next day.

Also @ 2pm Carolyn Allen’s came over w/ Kev & Chris’ tuxes to be fitted. Chris was supposed to be there by 2, but didn’t get there till 2:45 (along w/ Bob). Darn Disney buses (going hotel to hotel is a pain in the tush!) I was getting a little antsy at this point, but I knew it was beyond Chris’ control, so I didn’t freak out.

So we got the tuxes fitted and caught the town car w/ my dress and accessories to the Contemporary (I was staying w/ Mom that night). From there, we headed over to the Wedding Pavilion for the rehearsal. Finally put a face to the voice of Michelle (Shumate), our Event Manager (EM). So nice to meet her, she did a fabulous job! If anyone has her, you're in incredibly good hands!

At this point we were wearing our bride & groom mouse ears! I’ve been waiting almost 2 years to do that!

There was a wedding going on (poor bride got rained out of Sunset Point @ the Poly and had to go inside – she looked severely po’d) So Kev, Chris, Bob, Mom and I sat inside Franck's for a bit and waited. Rosie, the florist brought my bouquet over for approval. Can you say – gorgeous? Exactly what I wanted even though I didn’t know what I wanted. That’s about as clear as mud I’m sure!!

Jen and Johnathan showed up with Vanessa in tow. Can I just say that my little godson is absolutely precious? He’s 15 mos and I haven’t seen him since he was about 2 mos (they live in NC) It was so great to see everyone!

Kev and I were ushered in to meet Rev Jack Day. OMG – this is THE sweetest man alive (second to my husband of course!) He talked to the two of us and then we started the rehearsal. We ran through it twice (very short and sweet) and Rev Jack kept it light by saying I’ll do the intro here, then ‘happy words, happy words, happy words’, then the vows, then more happy words. (He had our ceremony of choice and he followed it to the letter the next day w/o making it sound like he was just reading it – but I’m getting ahead of myself).

Still no reality or nerves sinking in. I was totally mentally present for all of this, just soaking in all in, not really believing that it was finally happening.

And thank goodness, the aisle was not as long as I’d remembered. Since I was walking in alone, we had Kev meet me halfway. Nice touch I think.

Caught the monorail back to the Contemp and showed everyone Mom’s room to kill some time before dinner. Went down to Chef Mickey’s and met up w/ Katers (who gave us a lovely Mickey and Minnie Just Married ornament!)

We checked in @ Chef Mickey’s (with those ears, the CM’s knew we were the rehearsal dinner!) and went to take our picture at check in. Before we finished that, it was time to be seated. Kev and I had special place mats that said "it’s my special day" or something like that.

We gave gifts before everyone broke for the buffet. Mom loved her Sorcerer Mickey cross stitch that I did for her and the bookmark I gave her (she asked me to read it to her b/c she didn't have her reading glasses and I couldn’t cuz I was all choked up, so Kater read it to her for me.) Jen loved her Mickey & Minnie wedding trinket box and Chris loved his engraved Mickey keychain.

Time to eat! The buffet was good as always. Character interaction was good (not the best I’ve had at Chef Mickey’s, but oh well). During the napkin spinning song, Donald attacked us a bit. I kept hitting poor Kev w/ my napkin (I’m a spaz, ok? LOL!) Minnie came over and pointed to her empty ring finger and sighed. So I harassed Mickey about making an honest woman out of her when he came over. Kev said we could do a double ceremony w/ them the next day! Donald and Goofy beat the heck out of each other over by the dessert bar.

After dinner we headed up to Mom’s room to drop some stuff off and then it was time for fun!

The girls (me, Kater, Mom & Jen) headed over to PI. We checked out the comedy club which was ok and the Adventurer’s club which was an absolute blast! KUNGALOOSH! We learned the Adventurer’s club song and handshake and were made honorary members. Got a little picked on due to the mouse ears which was funny.

Mom doesn’t do too well with drinks – she forgot coming down the huge twisty staircase into Adventurer’s club. What a nut!

The guys (Kev & Chris) headed to Disney Quest and later Pleasure Island.

We ran into them as we were leaving and they’d had a few, but they were heading out too.

Got back to the hotel and conked out around 11:30. No nerves, no nothing, just looking forward to tomorrow. And I slept great until…

 

[2bemarried]

I really love your trip report......it's like a book....I want it to go on and on and on...
so.....slept...until??

 

[wdwpluto]

Thanks!

Actually... I need to back track to the rehearsal for a second... The wedding Pavilion is set up so that you see Cinderella's castle through the alter window. Well at the Rehearsal, what's right next to Cindy's castle in plain view? A BIG UGLY CONSTRUCTION CRANE! Michelle said it moved daily, so who knows what tomorrow would bring. Plus w/ the magic of computers, we can remove it from any photos. So I was a bit worried, but I didn't let it get me totally down.

Ok, back to the morning of the big day!

Thursday 11/7 – The BIG day! (part 1 of many)

UNTIL… My Mom wakes up out of a sound sleep screaming "Oh my God we overslept!" Can you say heart attack boys and girls? I know you can. Actually the alarm was going off in 15 minutes and Mom had just been having a bad dream. We laughed about it and said it’d make a great story, but what a way to start the day. In talking about it later, I said, what were they going to do, start with out me?

So I was supposed to be a nervous wreck today, right? And Mom was there to keep me calm, right? NOT! She was the jittery excitable one and I was calm.

We got up and showered. Clean dry hair for cosmetology. Gathered our stuff and caught the town car to the Grand Floridian Convention center. We had a bride’s dressing room in the Key West room there. Jen had beat us there and was talking to her mom who wished us well.

Breakfast had also beat us there. We paid $12/person x 3 for coffee, juice, muffins, bagels and such. What a rip off! It was good b/c we needed food, but sheesh! I ate a whole bagel and had some tea. Still no nerves.

Carolyn Allen shows up to steam all our dresses. And Lisa – Lisa, not Rex, shows up from cosmetology. Turns out Rex got sick. Oh well, Lisa did a fab job. I didn’t get upset – I mean the Disney cosmetologists work on celebrities, I know that whoever I got had to be good!

She started w/ Mom’s hair and then she set mine in rollers. While she was setting mine, I put down my glass of OJ. Apparently on Mom’s camera strap. When she picked it up, over went the OJ. (Now I’d asked her to pour me like 1/2 glass – didn’t want to have to pee, and she filled the glass to the rim and I was not gonna finish it!) Only a lil’ got on my purse, no biggie.

But later, I couldn’t find my necklace, bracelet and garter which had got moved around hurriedly to avoid the OJ. We did find them, but I was a little frustrated at that point. And another point of frustration was my camera. The batteries died, then I was having trouble w/ the zoom, or at least I think I was having trouble with the zoom. It may have been jitters that rendered me temporarily dumb. I didn’t feel nervous, but after the oj and the lost jewelry I was a bit annoyed.

Somewhere in all this, our flowers were delivered. Again, I can’t say enough about what a wonderful job Rosie @ Disney floral did.

Mom’s makeup was done and then mine was done (Jen did her own hair/makeup). Just starting to finish my hair and our EM comes in – 10 minutes! So Lisa finishes my hair up – looks great!!! I run to pee one last time – there’s a convention going on there and I looked oh so adorable in my jeans, button down T-shirt and bridal hair. Lots of stares from conventioneers.

Mom starts getting all frantic on me – no one’s dressed and we’ve got 10 mins – she was like wandering around the room like she didn’t know what to do first. At this point, I got a little bossy and said ‘put your dresses on first and then help me’. (We still laugh about how panicked she got) It worked because the got dressed in like 3 minutes and we got my dress all situated over the crinoline and I was able to jump in it. Lisa put my veil in and we were ready right on time. Grabbed our flowers and off we go!

Walked out to the limo to many ooohs, aaahhs, and congrats. I got out there and said to the limo driver "so we’re going to the airport, right?" And that was my state of mind, silly as usual. We could have been going to the grocery store it was just that normal. The driver replied that he’d already taken the groom to the beach and I just laughed. He’d said that the guys had been right on time (Yay guys!)

 

[scarlett873]

i'm enjoying your trip report!! i think that i had lisa as well when i got married. she did a fabulous job on my hair...

looking forward to more!!

 

[lurontravel]

Lori,

What a great report! my 17 y/o niece and I have been reading it like a fairytale, but we have to go to bed and wait until tomorrow's bedtime until we can hear that the princess and prince were safely married and lived happily ever after! Help!!!!

I always wanted to be a Disney Bride. My husband says that we can renew our vows someday. Only problem is that I won't be young and pretty like you (LOL). My niece told me a couple of years ago that I'm "middle-aged".
write soon please!

Laur

 

[wdwpluto]

Hi everyone! Thanks for all the kind words. The holidays kind of got in the way of my DIS time, but I'm back with more!

I fell into the limo – for lack of a better word. It was like a 2 minute ride to the Pavilion and the driver pulled me back out.

We walked towards the Pavilion, the sky was blue and cloudless and perfect. Much of my family (we had like 20 guests) was outside the Pavilion taking pictures as Mom, Jen and I walked across the bridge. Our photographer was there snapping away as was our videographer.

Michelle shooed the family inside and whisked me into the bride’s vestibule. Rev Jack came in and said lots of happy words. How beautiful I looked and what a wonderful couple we are… I started to loose it then. I yelled at him jokingly that I hadn’t cried yet, please don’t make me start now. Jen signed the license. I saw Chris wander by. Our photographer came in and did some shots. Chris comes by to escort my mom in. Jen and I were talking about something bizarre and I remember saying how strange that I’m getting married in like 2 minutes and we’re talking about X – only I can’t remember what X was.

Jen’s turn to go. I took a minute and looked at myself in the mirror and smiled. Took a few deep breaths and Michelle came to get me. I remember standing behind those double doors with Michelle and her assistant Heather. During the rehearsal I practically ran down the short aisle. Michelle and I joked that it was the New York (city) walk (she’d just visited up here for 10 days and she walked the walk so to speak). So before the doors opened, she reminded me not to do my New York walk. It was a great light moment that helped me keep it together.

They did the Windsor chimes and then the chiming of the hour – 10 chimes, one for each hour and suddenly it was 10am and those doors opened. (And at that moment, I'm thinking, couldn't we have picked like 2 o'clock? Those 10 chimes were so long!

WOW. Deer in headlights for a split second. Then I saw Kevin. My family, Kevin, the photographer, the flowers, Kevin, Rev Jack, Jen, Kevin, the construction crane through the window (but I didn’t care much at that point), there was Kevin. He met me half way up the aisle and I said "come here often?" And he just told me how amazing I looked.

The ceremony – wow. Rev Jack did an AMAZING JOB!! During the opening prayer, when my head was bowed I was sniffling and Kev was miked, so the whole place heard me!

Rev Jack – you would have thought he knew us both for years. His happy words were sincere and beautiful. The ceremony was short and sweet and everyone raved about him. I was teary eyed but I didn’t break down and bawl as I’d thought I would. We said our vows, exchanged our rings, and suddenly it was kiss time! And we were Mr. & Mrs. Kevin Barbely!

(I have to find my copy of the ceremony and post the vows – we didn’t do "I do’s" It was something like " all that I am and all that I have, I give to you from this day forward… happy words, happy words – it was an awesome ceremony!)

Our exit music was a medley of the Main Street Electrical Parade Music, Zip a de doh dah and the Mickey Mouse club song! That got a chuckle out of the crowd.

Since the family was staying for pictures (we were a small group) we had an impromptu receiving line and EVERYONE and I mean EVERYONE was crying and telling us how wonderful and beautiful it was.

We all went back inside and did formals. The time flew by. Michelle ushered everyone out front and we did a few quick pictures at picture point while they lined up. We did our exit through the bubbles. Not a cloud in that gorgeous blue sky and the bubbles just floated perfectly.

There was some random people standing by watching the exit, it was so cool! We did some getting in the limo shots, etc and we were off to the Grand Floridian!

 

[wdwpluto]

A short ride to the GF and we exited the car to more oooohing and aaahing. It was awesome – I felt like a celebrity. Up to the ladies room to bustle and lipstick. Kev and I made an appearance at the cocktail hour (food was delish!) and munched a bit before we ran off to do some photos.

Did some photos of us in/by the front car of the monorail. Then we did some shots in front of the GF. They had a horse drawn carriage sitting out front (no horse, no driver) and Kev’s idea was that he’d be the horse and I’d be the driver cracking the whip. Turned out to be a really funny shot.

Lots of ooohing and aaahhing by guests checking in and walking by. Congrats from all the CM’s and many guests. Wicked cool. But by far, THE BEST moment involving a random person was this. I was standing around while Gary (Fox, our photog) was taking a solo shot of Kev. A mom comes up to me w/ her son (he had to be 6 maybe?) and says ‘my son would like to tell you something’ so I bent down and said ‘hi’ and he says ‘you look pretty’ then turns beet red and hides behind his mom’s leg. I thanked him and his mom and almost started bawling. Talk about magical!

So Kev and I went back to the cocktail hour and mingled a bit. We got to go inside early and see the cake (PERFECT) and the room setup. Again, Disney did a fabulous job! The tables were beautiful and elegant and well, I hate to over use the word, perfect!!

More mingling at the cocktail hour. Chris and his family decide that my step mother is that annoying woman from Poltergeist "Come into the light Carol Ann" and my friend Katers (bless her heart) got stuck at a cocktail table with the step mother and comes over to me and goes "your step mother is soooooooooo annoying"

Now it was time to herd everyone into the reception room and we would be announced. We had to wait on my stepmother who’d disappeared before we could be announced. We were announced and did our first dance to "From this Moment" by Bryan White & Shania Twain. I sang to Kev the whole time and he just laughed at my bad singing!

We sat down and Chris did the toast. I vaguely remember what he said, but it was beautiful. Something about Kev and I being wonderful people and about how much we love each other. More happy tears.

Time to eat! We had a few minutes before the salads so we hit the tables. With just 3 of them, it was easy! I’m so glad we had a small group – we got to enjoy our wedding, eat our food, and have fun. It was great!

The salads came out and they were good. We got our drinks (sodas) and Kev and I got Mickey Mouse shaped straws! How funny! Kev had the beef and I had the chicken and we shared. Both were excellent, the beef was better though. We both cleaned our plates.

Now, the adventure begins! Potty time! Jen helped me and we had no problems. But that was the only time I went while in my dress that day.

 

[wdwpluto]

After that, most people were done eating, so the dj had us come out and do a dance to get things moving. We did a few songs and then the dj says… ‘you know, it’s a funny thing, when you have a wedding in Disney World, you never know who’s going to show up’ and out come Mickey and Minnie in their formal attire! The guests reaction was PRICELESS! (it was like a Master Card commercial – wedding gown $650 dollars, honeymoon $1500, seeing your 75 year old grandmother dancing with Mickey Mouse – PRICELESS!) The first song they did was "oh Mickey you’re so fine, you’re so fine you blow my mind"

A few songs later, the DJ (Chuck, who was great!) says "Mickey, your dog is here", and Pluto came wandering in (this was great as I think the guests thought that M&M was it, so this was a great surprise!) We all did the Tiki Room version of the Macarena

The character interaction was fabulous! Honestly, they were worth twice what we spent on them.

Cake cutting time! The characters helped out/looked on. I just got a lil’ frosting on the nose, no mess.

The bridal party then did formal pics with all the characters. We teased Mickey about needing to marry Minnie pretty soon, they had fun with that. Minnie was nodding and stamping her food impatiently while Mickey was covering his (rather large) ears. And when Pluto needed to be positioned for the pictures, Mickey would do it and then pat him on the head like ‘good boy’ It was cute.

So they all danced for a few more songs then Mickey and Minnie had to go get ready for the parade. Pluto did a few more songs with us and then he had to go get ready for the parade also.

Ate our whole slices of cake – really good cake! Choc w/ strawberries and strawberry mousse! Danced more and did the shoe-lywed game. I had 1 of Kev’s shoes and 1 of mine and he had the same. We got asked silly questions and it was to see how well we knew each other. I think we were like 7 for 10 or 8 for 10.

And then we danced the afternoon away. Then it was all over at 4pm. All the leftover stuff got gathered up and put on the bus (we had a private charter for the day). We got to take home the top round layer of our cake and the white chocolate mouse ears that sat on top of the top layer (if that makes sense). My friend drove them home to NJ for us.

Honestly, and maybe it was because we had a small wedding, it didn’t fly by like so many people say. It went at a perfect pace. I was there mentally and remember lots of details. We both had a blast, got to relax and enjoy. Ate all our food, talked to all our guests and had a blast with each other and with our friends. Kev and I (and Mom too) were as pleased as punch with how everything went. We couldn’t have asked for a more perfect day. And all our guests were raving about how wonderful everything was.

We took the bus back with our guests. Jen and Chris came to our room so Chris could leave his rental tux and Jen could help me out of my dress and pull 900 bobby pins out of my hair. They left and we were alone.

A little shower and some relaxing. I finally did break down and really cry when it all caught up with me. Totally happy tears and the day was all I’d hoped for and dreamed of (and then some!) We went by the pool for a bit, but then decided to go to Downtown Disney.

Had dinner @ Wolfgang Puck’s (good sushi, other stuff was so-so) and shopped! We’d gotten some Disney dollars as a wedding present so we splurged a bit. Then it was home to pass out. Tomorrow was another early day for us!

 

[wdwpluto]

So every fairytale has an evil step mother, right? (bet you didn't see this one coming!)

At the reception, someone said something to which I replied "well you only do this once" and my dad said "or twice" (he's been married to my stepmother for, mmm, 12 years? Anyways, later on, Kev and I are sitting at the sweetheart table and my step mother comes over to chat. Something is said to which Kev replies "well we're only doing this once so we splurged a bit (or something like that)..." (he hadn't heard the earlier convo w/ dad). So my step mother goes, "well...hopefully".

I got a wee bit cranky on her. I was like look - "first dad had a smart remark about getting married a second time, now you, and that's just plain rude to say to someone on their wedding day". (Mind you I said it all with a smile and a large dose of sugar - while gritting my teeth) She tried to back pedal, "well I didn't mean, blah blah blah. It's not rude". And Kev goes, "look, it's Lori's day (and I corrected him - it's OUR day) and she's obviously taken offense to what you said, so stop being rude and drop it". She kind of scurried away like a roach does when you turn the light on.

Then Kev and I just cracked up. Because we know how she is and that she's just got to stir up trouble and try and get in the center of everything. We certainly didn't let it ruin our day (I'd even forgotten about it while writing about the day) but I'm still rather annoyed about that. Some people never change.

 

[wdwpluto]

PICTURES

Mom's pics from her digital camera (Rehearsal/Wedding Day)
http://photos.yahoo.com/disnysue

Proofs (a small fraction of our 450+)
http://www.shutterfly.com/osi.jsp?i=67b0de21b3329b0925aa

 

[wdwpluto]

Friday 11/8

3:30 am and the alarm is blaring. Boy it’s early, but I was almost as excited about today as I was about the wedding day. Today was the day that we got re-dressed and took bridal portraits in the Magic Kingdom at 6am (before the park opened to the rest of the world).

I needed clean dry hair by 4am, so I hopped in the shower. Once I was set w/ the clean dry hair, I decided to grab a soda from the machine next door (need some early morning caffeine). So at 4am – who do I run into at the soda machine? MY FATHER! I swear I felt like I was being stalked or something. He asked what I was doing up and he said that I never told him about this – uh, yes, yes I did. (and that’s probably why he was hanging around outside at 4am) Anyway

Rex from cosmetology shows up. He’d been sick yesterday and still seemed out of it today. But he did a fabulous job with my hair and makeup (in seeing the pics, I liked my wedding day hair better, so I'm almost glad that he was sick that day). Kev slept a bit while all this was being done. At some point my bouquet was delivered (floral had taken it yesterday to refresh it for today) and Kev’s new boutonniere was delivered.

The photographer called at about 5:30 to make sure that we were up and moving and we met him right on time in front of the resort (a few minutes early for our 6am pickup)

Off to the Magic Kingdom! It’s still dark and driving down Main Street in a mini-van is such a surreal feeling.

So we get to the castle and the lights are off and there’s 3 vans/trucks parked in the circle (behind the Partners statue, in front of the castle).

Now I had my little heart set on pictures of the castle lit up (it goes from purples, to pinks, to blues) against the dark sky.

We never did get the lights turned on and it took us 30 minutes to get all the construction equipment moved. Now mind you, it's kinda cook (being that it's like 6am, my feet hurt like heck but I couldn't sit down cuz the benches were wet from being hosed down) So it's early, I'm cold (I'm always cold), my feet hurt, I'm cranky, and I'm not getting what I want (can we say bridal temper tantrum? he he he)

By that point it was daylight. No night portraits for us I was so You know, they charge $750 to do the bridal portraits, plus $150 for hair/makeup. (and we paid for an extra bout & refresh/redeliver on my flowers) AND the photographer said they shoot them like 3 days a week, so there’s really no excuse for all that crap. I tried realllllly hard not to pout, but the photographer knew that we were upset (ok, I was upset, therefore Kev got upset too because he knew how much I wanted this).

So anyway we did portraits in daylight in front of the castle from 2-3 different angles. We also did shots by Cinderella’s castle and in the throne area for Cinderella’s Royal Table. (I have to say that the photographer’s choice of poses and what-not seemed rather un-inspiring in that he was like "ok, stand there")

The photographer also wanted to do shots in the Rose garden in front of the castle (as did I since I've seen gorgeous shots there) – more equipment ruled that out. So by that time I’m pretty mad.

My Mom and I have a Disney tradition. Every time we go to WDW we take pictures in front of the Tiki Poles across from the Tiki Room in Adventure Land. Now generally the MK photogs are supposed to stick to the locations listed above. But I put on my sugariest sweet voice and explained the tradition and told him that I would like him to take some shots of Kev and I in front of the Tiki’s.

Now whether it was the fact that he knew I was mad or he was just a decent guy, he said yes. So that was nice at least.

Then it was time to leave – but we couldn’t get out. Each exit we went to was blocked so we spent a good 15 minutes driving around the park (which was nice, but Kev and I were so annoyed at that point)

All in all, we're disappointed with the pictures. From the way the day went, to the way they turned out. And many people have said they're nice pictures. And they're not 'bad' but when you compare them to our proofs, in the MK photos you can pretty much tell that Kev and I are gritting our teeth and smiling, not truly happy like we are in our wedding day pictures.

I've almost finished my letter to Disney complaining about how that morning went. Because they hose down the park in the morning – my dress got very wet and dirty (the train) which I’d been warned to expect. Between that and all the annoyances, Kev and I agreed that we’re both very glad that we didn’t do this the morning of the wedding (we didn’t want to see each other before the ceremony anyway). It would have set a terrible tone for the entire day.

But the crane was gone, so at least that didn’t appear in the pictures. And if that’s the worst thing that went wrong (which it was) then I’m ok with that.

So it’s now pushing 7:30am and we get dropped off back to the Coronado. As we’re going into our room, who do we run into? My step mother. (See what I mean about feeling stalked?) So when asked what we’re doing we tell her – SLEEP! (Which was the plan and what we did and it was like a hint, hey leave us alone, we're going to SLEEP!).

Not 5 minutes later there’s a knock on our door Now I got annoyed, but he did have good intentions (but at this point I was so sick of seeing my father on my honeymoon). He wanted to see if we wanted him to take some pictures by the CSR lake which would have been really nice. Too late – we were already changed and had no intention of getting dressed again (maybe if the MK session had gone better we’d have been in a better mood).

So time for some sleep! And that's it for the wedding stuff. If ya'll want to hear about the honeymoon, I'd be happy to oblige.

 

[Janet2k]

Wdwpluto, I enjoyed reading all about your magical day, and I enjoyed viewing your photos. I wish you nothing but happily ever afters. *Sigh*

 

[cheshirekitty]

Hey neighbor...I live in Saddle Brook! It's nice to hear that you had such a nice wedding in WDW. I'm hopefully going to be planning one down there in the near future.

A few questions:

How many guests did you have?

Were you at all concerned with asking your family to go to FL for your wedding?

 

[lurontravel]

Lori,

Thank you for the beautfiul wedding story. I'm wishing I'd gotten married there even more now, and my niece says that now she wants to be a Disney Bride someday too. We're going to look at your pics now. Can't wait! Your monorail picture is priceless!

Thanks again!

Laura

PS We'd love to hear about the Honeymoon too!

 

[Maria P]

Lori,

Excellent trip report!!! I've really enjoyed reading about your big day! Would love to hear more about the rest of your trip!

I was recently married myself (March 2002 at the Sandals Resort in the Bahamas) and thoroughly enjoyed all the planning- even though it was stressful at times. But hey, it was worth it since our day turned out perfectly. Reading your trip report brought back many fond memories of my own wedding.

Wishing you both all the happiness in the world!

Maria P.

 

[LisaLovesDisney]

WDWPLUTO,
I Love it!!! I also have a really annoying "stepmonster" and since we are having an intimate wedding we told her she could not come due to the limited number of people. After reading your FTW I am so happy we did that. Your wedding sounded wonderful! And you both looked gorgeous! Congrats!!!