Rachel and Corey's Wishes Wedding 12/7/15 Update 4/20 HONEYMOON DAY 1

[rachel09985]

Rachel, you were one of the most stunning brides I've ever seen...absolutely gorgeous! Your ceremony seemed perfect! I LOVE that you had it at Sea Breeze...my hubby and I dream of one day renewing our vows at WDW, and Sea Breeze is exactly where we want to do it! You and Corey are a beautiful couple!

Awww, this was one of the sweetest things ever. Thank you for your kind words. Sea breeze is a perfect place to renew vows. I will totally want to renew our vows someday too there.

You pictures and just everything about your day was insanely beautiful!!! Great, great job planning. I don't think it could have come together any better.

Thank you so much! I was so happy with how it came together. Most perfect day ever.

I LOVE your ceremony décor!!! The flowers on the arches are perfect and really make the space look complete. Your ceremony pictures are so sweet too. While its the most meaningful part of the day, its kind of the part I'm dreading the most since that's when all eyes are on you. I'm much rather looking forward to the reception! Haha

I totally agree about making the space complete. I am so glad I kept those!! That is kind of how we were about the ceremony. We don't love being the center of attention and having to be affectionate in front of people. I was shocked that Corey said it was his favorite part of the day.

 

[mandy_22]

Love, love, love all of your pictures!!!! You look gorgeous!!!!!

 

[fallonkendra]

You looked so beautiful, and so happy! I love Seabreeze Point, what a gorgeous venue! And the colours you picked worked so well together, and looked amazing in all of the pictures!

 

[Hydra]

I anxiously await each installment!

 

[elphie101]

Rachel I'm in love with every update! I get so excited when I see you've posted (even if I don't comment right away). Your ceremony was beautiful and your PHOTOS!! They are just lovely and you especially look radiant.

I can't believe all the trouble that sign caused, both before and on the day of your wedding!

 

[rachel09985]

Love, love, love all of your pictures!!!! You look gorgeous!!!!!

Aw thanks so much!! I felt gorgeous too! So nice to be made over.

You looked so beautiful, and so happy! I love Seabreeze Point, what a gorgeous venue! And the colours you picked worked so well together, and looked amazing in all of the pictures!

Thank you! It definitely is gorgeous.

I anxiously await each installment!

Yay, I have readers!

Rachel I'm in love with every update! I get so excited when I see you've posted (even if I don't comment right away). Your ceremony was beautiful and your PHOTOS!! They are just lovely and you especially look radiant.

I can't believe all the trouble that sign caused, both before and on the day of your wedding!

I am so glad you are reading! You are one of the reasons I wanted to do a disney reading! I started reading it before I even got engaged and totally won me over to a disney wedding.

That darn sign definitely caused trouble! I guess in the end it worked out so I cant complain too much

 

[rachel09985]

After our ceremony, we didn't really have any sort of a recessional. I really wish we would have done some sort of recessional with a petal toss. I didn't realize that I would want that but the pictures really would have been nice! I wish I would have thought through that before tossing that idea out of the window.

When we walked back in we had to pay the rest of the money to Rev Tim and had to sign our marriage license. Then Ashley let me know that he would want to take our picture. Then he took us aside and took like five pictures of us. I am not going to lie, that was kind of irritating. This is me being pretty mean, yet honest, but we were paying him to perform a ceremony, not take our picture. That is why we paid our photographer thousands of dollars. It is kind of nice that I can look at his Facebook page and see all the weddings he officiates, but at the time I was a little put off. I would have rather started our family pics so I could have enjoyed the cocktail hour.


Ashley gathered up all the families to take pictures. I am going to be a negative nancy again but I really really wish I would have said no cameras during the family pictures. Everyone was giving each other their camera to take iphone pictures. AND there are a lot of pictures where people are looking at their iphone camera instead. That irritated me when I got the pictures back. Other than that, the family picture process went really well. Ashley's assistant would read out the names of the people I wanted and we would get in formation. It was really quick! Even though it was really sunny. We had to keep moving forward because of the sun.

Here is a few of my favorites.

My mom and us



My dad and us



Corey's family



One with my parents. Even though they are divorced they get along. This one was real special to me.



Corey is so tall his head was blown out in a few pictures because of how sunny it was. She did a good job editing even with the sun. We wanted the flowers to be in the picture so we stuck with this spot.



My mom and me



One of my favorites. We were giggling during this. I didn't think it would come out this good.



My daddy. I am such a daddy's girl. He is one of my best friends.



I am not joking, this is probably in my top three of photos taken the entire day. I am in love with this photo. I cried when I saw it.



Then time for my stepmom. This was another emotional moment. I like my stepmom, even though she can irritate me. When Rachel called her name up, she started crying when she realized I wanted a picture with just her. She was like this is for family. And I told her she is family and means a lot to me. I got teary eyed because she was crying.





Then my siblings and Corey. Another one I adore.





Then all of our parents.



Corey and his mom. I really like this one too.



A cute one with his pops.



With Corey's parents



And one with Corey's mom. I am so close with her so I definitely needed one with her.



I really love all of our family photos. They mean so much to me.

After the pictures, they immediately took down the flowers. Then Maxine told me it was time to bustle my dress. In retrospect, I really wish I would have waited until right before the ceremony. I really would have liked the train in the pictures after the cocktail hour. This thing was a pain to bustle because my seamstress put heavy duty safety pins in there since it was so heavy.



Here is Maxine and me, the only picture of us. I wish I would have made sure I got a picture with her in it!



My mom took this one.



Then it was time for me to join the cocktail hour. Corey and I were both so thankful that we moved the cocktail hour. It was gorgeous outside and so cool to have the bar and food outside on the boardwalk.

The plan was to spend a little bit of time at the cocktail hour and then off to take more pictures.

Jessica took a picture with me and my beloved sign.



And one with us.



Then Corey and I got drinkies! He doesn't normally drink but will drink fruity drinks, so she made us a special drink. I don't even remember what it was but everyone referred to it as Corey and Rachel's drink after that.



Next up, the cocktail hour!

 

[fallonkendra]

I love the pop of colour those flower arrangements added to your pictures!

 

[rachel09985]

The one thing I specifically requested was that I wanted to partake in a little of the cocktail hour. If I am paying for it, I am partaking in everything I pay for! So that was my one must do. We had our plans to take photos after my portion of the cocktail hour.

I was so surprised that our guest book, card box, and decorations were outside here. I didn't ask for them to be out here. I felt bad that they had to lug this stuff around. First I will show our set up.

The bar. It was SO cool to have a bar set up outside.



Our card table.



Now for the professional pictures.

Our hashtag sign was sitting on the bar along with our cocktail napkins







Our guest book. I got these prints from Minted. They are states made with our engagement photos. One for Florida, Ohio where we are from, and Minnesota where we have lived for the past 6 years. I was so pleased with how these came out.





Our card box. Loved this as well! I was a little worried about the length of the card name but it worked out good.





Now time for the food.



Somehow one of the staff knew Corey was a green bay packers fan and he called this the packers cheese because it was green and yellow.



The same guy also knew that I work for Pepsi. He told me I could have requested Pepsi, but I didn't know that! I would have if I had known that. He said that one of the parties they had the CEO for Pepsi (i doubt that) and so they had to have Pepsi there. So funny!



Everyone loved this honeycomb!!!



The wine at the cocktail hour. I think everyone went straight for the cocktails.









The cheese selection was very nice. I think the cheeses were $17 per person. Definitely expensive but it was nice to have some sort of food there. My only complaint was that I wish they had name tags as to what was what. Someone had to be up there explaining what each type of cheese was. And they were definitely unique cheeses.

After our pictures I headed right over to the cocktail party and sat with my aunts. My shoes totally sunk in to the grass, which I didn't like it. It was such a nice space. I highly recommend doing this if you have a Seabreeze wedding.

These pictures were from my mom's camera.

She wanted a close up of my new ring.







Me and my mom. I love this picture.



My aunt Sue.



My aunt Eileen.



It was really nice to have the violinist there even though I couldn't tell you one song she played.



Austin getting some cheese.









And that is really all of the pictures we have from the cocktail hour. I wish I would have specified more pictures of my guests at the cocktail hour but I didn't so I didn't get a lot of pictures from the cocktail hour. But that is okay.

Corey chugged his drink in like two seconds so he got another one. I was shocked!! But it was time to head to photos That went way too quickly! Corey took his drink with him on the boardwalk. That was fun to drink on the boardwalk. I told Ashley that I really wanted photos of the bridesmaids and Corey so I made all of the bridesmaids come along with us.

Corey's sister already had to change because her feet hurt so bad. I knew her feet would hurt. First of all, I told her I preferred she wear nude shoes. But no she wanted navy. Which wasn't a big deal because of the long dresses. Then she chose this really tall pair which I told her would make her feet hurt. But she said they were comfy. But they did hurt. So she was wearing flip flops during the pictures.

 

[elphie101]

I have to tell you, I am absolutely in love with your guestbook pictures. If I had seen that when I was planning I would have 100% gone for it!!

 

[catchmeifyoucan]

Great posts! I just found your trip report / planning journal a few days ago and I'm now all caught up. I love all the details that you include, especially the details of your wedding planning! My fiance and I just got engaged in Disney World at the end of January so it has been so fun reading your TR! I loved when you posted all the photos of the wedding dresses you tried on. I love the dress you ended up choosing, and you are a gorgeous bride! Can't wait to read more!

 

[rachel09985]

I have to tell you, I am absolutely in love with your guestbook pictures. If I had seen that when I was planning I would have 100% gone for it!!

Thanks! I really loved it too. I was deciding between a few things and ended up with that. Those three states mean a lot to us so that felt right!

Great posts! I just found your trip report / planning journal a few days ago and I'm now all caught up. I love all the details that you include, especially the details of your wedding planning! My fiance and I just got engaged in Disney World at the end of January so it has been so fun reading your TR! I loved when you posted all the photos of the wedding dresses you tried on. I love the dress you ended up choosing, and you are a gorgeous bride! Can't wait to read more!

Thank you! Congrats on your engagement. Dress shopping is sooo fun! I miss that. Are you having a disney wedding?

 

[rachel09985]

We started with the bridesmaid pictures. I really loved past bridesmaid pictures I have seen on the boardwalk so I was excited for these.

LOVE! The dress colors looked great against the boardwalk.





This is probably my favorite bridesmaid picture of the day.



Then she made us all fake laugh while we were working, which turned in to real laughing.





The last one they took is a close up of emily's dress and flowers.



Then it was Corey's turn with the girls.



I died when I saw this. Corey has the best goofy face ever.



Then Ashley took Corey and I. I am not sure what the girls did. I don't think they watched us.

She started with some Rachel only photos. I am not in love with these photos.







Then she had Corey stand behind me.







We were both really giggly.







These ones are pretty.



I like this one a lot.



And this one! Eskimo kisses.









My arm looks so awkward in these!





Then it was time to walk to our reception to have our first look of the reception. I don't even remember video being around that much.

I think these photos of Corey and I walking are sweet.





We passed this area at the boardwalk that had the christmas tree in the lawn and poinsettias all around. I told Ashley I wanted to avoid the christmas decor for the most part, but this was too pretty to not stop. They ended up being some of my favorites photos.





This kissing picture is actually my favorite kissing picture of the night! I am so glad we stopped in front of this tree.



Next up, we see our reception decor!

 

[rachel09985]

If any of you have been to the boardwalk lower level and needed to get up to the main level for the buses and the conference center, you have to take stairs. Poor Ashley had this huge rolling bag with all of her camera supplies so I made Corey carry it for her when walking up the stairs. She appreciated it so much because it was heavy.

I think Maxine was there also and she opened the door for us to have our first look at the reception decor. I couldn't believe how beautiful it was! I was stunned. Unfortunately, the uplights weren't on when she took the detail pictures so it doesn't look as pretty. For the first couple of hours it was relatively light in there from the windows. Luckily, it gets dark early in early December. It definitely affected the looks of the uplights though. It was still pretty though while light!

The first thing the guests saw when they entered was their namecard. I ordered custom handmade name cards. I was in love with how they came out!







Our tables were named with Disney love stories. I had a vintage calendar that I bought and never used so I took them to a kinkos and illegally copied them. They saw that I had disney things to copy and they told me it was illegal to print copyright and they couldn't help me but I could do it myself. So I did!

Here is our table names.

Sleeping Beauty



Cinderella



Lady and the Tramp



Snow White



Our floral matched the arch floral at Seabreeze. I really thought they did a great job! Minus the hot pink color of rose..that was too hot pink for me!! I wish I would have clarified what color I wanted. I almost regretted using outside for personal floral when I saw how amazing a job they did.





Here's us seeing our sight for the first time!



Our table settings had a gold charger with a navy napkin. I rented the chargers for $1 each! I loved their water glass. It was this gorgeous golden wine glass.



Here is how our entire space looked like. It was prettier with the uplights.







This room seriously fit the pink/navy/gold theme perfectly. The wallpaper paired with the carpet just fit the entire theme perfectly. If I had to change one thing about what I chose, I would have made the table runner the overlay and added a navy runner. The ivory tables were just a bit too white. Especially because we didn't have the full amount at every table. That was my basic regret. The tables looked too bare.

Now onto our sweetheart table. I really loved the sweetheart table. They recycled the floral from seabreeze and put it on the sweetheart table. I originally asked it to be around the placecards but I am so glad they moved it to the sweetheart table. Thank you DFTW for knowing whats best!!







This sign I ordered from Etsy..yes again! I loved it!!!





Around this time Maxine surprised us and told us we were getting a complimentary champagne toast for having to move our cocktail hour! Yay!! You can see the champagne in this picture. You can also tell that the lights were turned on.

Now onto the cake table. We ordered a champagne sequin table cloth.









One hidden mickey on the back





The major thing that bothered me was the SILVER base of the cake stand! I didn't realize I needed to specify anything with that. I have seen gold bases so I am not sure why they made it silver when they knew our colors are gold and navy. I also didn't like the bright pink rose petals on the table. I wish they were the light pink petals.

Last but not least was the caricature artist's spot. Poor Ted was put in the corner! Such a cute set up.




And that is it for our first reception look. We were so pleased with how everything looked. Looking back on it, I want to see it again!

 

[Doodlebug25413]

OMG so beautiful!!

I'm happy I decided to do light pink and a dark pink flower scheme with our cake and the girls flowers.
I almost thought that hot pink rose you have in your arrangement was red?? Might be the lighting?

Either way, it's still perfect & romantic!

 

[rachel09985]

OMG so beautiful!!

I'm happy I decided to do light pink and a dark pink flower scheme with our cake and the girls flowers.
I almost thought that hot pink rose you have in your arrangement was red?? Might be the lighting?

Either way, it's still perfect & romantic!

Aw, thank you!

I love pink anything so I agree with that color scheme! The hot pink rose did look almost red, that is why I didn't like it. But that was really the only thing I didn't like so I guess I will take it. But I probably shouldn't for the cost of the floral!

 

[rachel09985]

After Corey and I saw our reception room we went to wait in another Boardwalk room while our guests arrived. My feet were already starting to hurt so I asked Maxine if she would get me a bandaid for my feet. I believe that Emily and her tried to finish doing my bustle for my dress since it already came undone on the boardwalk. My seamstress put these heavy duty safety pins in there so the bustle didn't break. Ironically the safety pin ripped my dress anyways. I wish I would have gone to a different seamstress. We took out my veil and my hair was already falling. Maxine pointed it out and I wish I would have someone re pin it so the one strand wouldn't be falling out.

Corey and I hung out in there for a while and talked about our first dance that we were both nervous for. We took dance lessons ahead of time. We took three lessons, which was an interesting experience. I just didn't want to do the swaying back and forth dance. I wanted an actual dance. Our instructor called the swaying dance the Frankenstein Butt Hugger. Haha. Corey didn't have much confidence in me because he thought I was going to mess up! I had a rough time getting the steps together. It was funny because the dance lessons were almost like therapy. I had a hard time letting Corey take control and guide me so every time we practiced I had to close my eyes. We practiced almost every day leading up to the wedding!

Pretty soon it was time to be announced. We were only announcing ourselves, our bridal party was already in there since it was a unique situation with uneven numbers and Corey's dad in the party. DJ Charles Miles came out and talked to us about the name pronunciation and the order of events. He asked us where ever one is from. We had one person from California and the rest from Ohio, although I later realized I forgot to call out my dad, who lives in Michigan. He asked us if we were Ohio State fans, which I am. Corey and family are Michigan fans, so we made sure he knew that!

We were having our first dance right away after the announcement. The song we were going to walk into was One Republic Good Life. It is a feel good song and even has ties to disney! Our first dance song was Michael Buble Crazy Love. I have known for a few years I wanted to dance to that. It fits our relationship perfectly.

Then DJ miles called us out! I was so nervous and my face showed it!



Then we went right into our dance. There was definitely one corny move. Corey wanted to nix it but I wanted to keep it.

In the beginning we were so worried about our frame so we were really stiff and far away.







Ashley set up this light that made some of the pictures look really cool!



Our first move was for me to walk around Corey



He must be checking his feet.











Then we had our first twirl



I love this one.



This one too because of how pretty my dress looks.





It seems like we loosened up a bit after we did some of the harder moves.



I love this light!





I think this is the corny move.





I love my smile in these though. I think it was just embarassment.



Corey's dad was loving it!



Then we ended the dance with a dip! It was had to dip in my big dress.





We ended it with a spin



Yaya, it was finally over! Corey could finally relax. On our disney trip last week, he told me that the thing he was most nervous for was the reception because he hates to dance.

Corey's mom cried when we were done. This was the only time she cried. She loved our dance.



I don't even remember what we talked about during our first dance. I think we were just too worried about the steps so we talked about what he was going to do next. I loved our first dance, one of my favorite moments!

 

[rachel09985]

After our first dance we made our way to our sweetheart table for our speeches and prayer. Thankfully, my wonderful planner had my wristlet under the table along with my shoes! I brought Disney Vans to wear for dancing and to the dessert party. I took out my phone and snapped a few pictures while waiting for everything to start.





Selfie!



Then it was time for the toasts. Both of our dads were were giving toasts. Since I didn't really have a maid of honor I wanted my dad to do the honor. Plus, he is a pretty funny guy!

My dad went first. He told a funny story about when I was younger I accidentally drained all the water out of the pool and shriveled up the liner causing a couple thousand dollars of damage. Whoops! He just talked about how I was his first born and made him the happiest man when I was born. I am sooo looking forward to having video of these speeches. I really can't remember anything about them! It was a sweet speech but I thought it would be more emotional.









Already drinking before the speech was over!!





Then it was Corey's dad's turn! He really did an amazing job. I don't want to discredit my dad because I love my dad so much but Corey's dad knocked it out of the park. He talked about Corey and I going to high school together, I would always pick him up in the morning but I was always late and Corey's parents didn't know anything about me and was so surprised I was a girl. Corey's dad said he could tell this was something special because of the look in Corey's eye when he left to go to school with me. I think I mentioned this but Corey and I are high school sweethearts..we are 30 now so we have been together for a long time!! So I am very very very close with Corey's family. I love them like they are my own.



Drinking again!



Corey getting emotional when his dad was talking about high school.



The next thing I remember is Corey's dad talking about everything I have done for them the past year, especially everything I have done for Diane. Diane had breast cancer this year and it really affected me. I tried to do so many special things for her this past year to make her feel better. We got a job transfer, I made t shirts, I drove home a lot, called her a lot, texted alll the time, sent cards after every chemo, you name it. She is like my mom and very special. So, when Corey's dad brought up Diane, I lost it. That is the 2nd time I started crying that day. I am crying right now remembering it. I will always remember this moment.



Corey's sister crying. I LOVE this picture.



Then we hugged and toasted. Great father speeches! I liked just having the dads do the speeches. Both dads are super outgoing and funny so it just made sense.





My aunt Eileen did the prayer. It was such a perfect prayer and perfect length!



After everything it was time to eat.

We had mixed green salads with ranch, french, and Ohana's old honey lime vinaigrette.



I specifically requested the Caprese salad.



We had roasted vegetables and I also requested carrots..i love cooked carrots.



Our other side was yukon gold potato, applewood bacon, gruyere tart. EVERYONE raved about this side. I have to agree, it was amazing. I wonder if disney would give me the recipe. The recipe card in front of the dish said Apple Bacon on separate lines. It just dawned on me that this is why everyone thought it had apple in it, which it didn't.





We had parm crusted chicken with marsala and marinara. Sadly, I didn't have any of this.





Then we had a crab topped mahi mahi with a light citrus butter sauce. I really really liked this.



The last entree we had was grilled flat iron steak with a chef carving the meat. I shouldn't be this upset about this but I am: The photographer's assistant was taking the food pictures (that I specifically requested) and she didn't get a picture of this station. I think it is like what $17 extra per person for the carving station so I was bummed when no pictures came back with that station. I was the first one up to get food so I got a well done piece. I should have requested a rare piece.

I had help getting my food. The server helped me and made my plate, which was really nice. Our staff was so friendly! Unfortunately, I could barely eat any of my food. I was just so stuffed and I have no idea why. I think just the nerves. I know you hear brides say to remember to eat and it is true. I remembered to eat but I couldn't eat! I barely finished my plate. I wanted to go back up for more food but I didn't because I couldn't eat anymore.

Based on feedback everyone really enjoyed the food, especially that potato dish. I heard good things about the steak and mahi mahi.

During our meal is when the photographers ate too and DJ Miles played the Tangled song and my uncle and little cousin Gracie started dancing. It was soo cute, I wish I had photos! Since Ashley and team were eating I don't have anything from that.

During dinner is when we got our first taste of Charles Miles amazingness. Before dinner he played Be Our Guest, which I noted. That was fun. During dinner he played really nice slow songs. The one I loved was a slow version of Hotline Bling. He played an assortment of Disney love songs (very limited!), Michael Buble, and other rat pack.

Corey's plate looks so puny!



Dinner and toasts were great and we were just getting the party started!

 

[Lauren1027]

Your food looked sooo good! I just made a note to try the potatoes and the mahi mahi during our menu tasting this summer!

 

[twinkybel81]

We already have a different potato dish in mind to try at our menu tasting, but your potatoes look and sound to die for!