Ashley and Jeff's Wishes Wedding WP & ADH~12-2-2011~TR Day 6 Reception/Photo gallery

[Ash8716]

Just to warn you, there are a lot of pictures. Sorry I got picture happy!!!

Finally after a long, fun and exhausting week the wedding has finally arrived! I of course didn't sleep much that night, maybe 3 hours. I was so anxious. I tried so hard to get some rest but just couldn't; I was constantly watching the clock. I had the strangest feeling all night, all the nerves that I had went away, instead I felt this sense of calm and kept finding myself to have a smile on my face. I truly couldn't wait to marry my prince charming. Around 5 my two bridesmaids finally got up! They had to head to their room to get there stuff before the getting ready process began. It was nice to have a few minutes to myself. I had one of the rooms at the convention center Boardwalk reserved for us so I headed there kind of early since I was up and ready to get started .

I found this up already, I was so excited!!!

Carolyn Allens showed up at 6:00 with my gown!! I was so happy to see it! They steamed my dress, the bridesmaids and my moms. They were absolutely amazing to work with. They did a wonderful job!

Around this time all of the girls were arriving too. Jeff showed up with coffee and donuts. Of course one of my friends met him because I was not planning on seeing him until I walked down the aisle. At 6:30 Patricia Lejuene showed up with a couple of girls to begin hair and makeup. She was going to be doing all the bridesmaids hair and makeup as well as my makeup. My maid of honor was doing my hair. We had done several trials at home. It was such a crazy morning. About 20 minutes after Patricia showed up we lost power in the room. That whole sense of calm I had all morning went right away. The nerves suddenly were back and I was starting to freak. We found someone to fix the power, he told us it would be back on in a few minutes well 20 minutes later it wasn't on, so we took it upon ourselves to move to the room across the hall. We couldn't afford to lose anymore time. This pretty much set the mood for the rest of the morning, my nerves were on high. I think I may have snapped a few times. Haha Anyways we got things back on track. As my maid of honor was working on my hair I was really freaking out. I was starting to feel really sick, time was ticking away My wonderful sister in law brought all of us a mimosa to help take the nerves away. Outside of the whole nerve thing we were all having a lot fun. It was such a good time but so surreal!

(Most of these photos are not professional ones with the exception of a few!)

Finally around 8:45 I had finished my hair and makeup! My goal was to be in my dress for 9:30 because our bus was picking us up at 10:30. I absolutely loved my hair and my makeup, it came out amazing! Patricia and all of her girls were so great to work with and lots of fun. I just loved them I couldn't have been happier. It was a long process but so worth it. While this whole hair and makeup thing was going on my photographers were doing photos with my dress and accessories. Everybody that would leave our room would keep coming back to tell me about the awesome things the photographers were doing with my dress and stuff. I was so jealous, I wanted to see so bad! These are the only photos I have, can't wait to see what was going on out there!

So then around 9:00 my flowers showed up! They were amazing, I couldn't believe how beautiful my bouquet looked. It was perfect. The girls bouquets were really pretty too. I was so amazed by mine though, I had a huge smile on face. Still thinking about it makes me smile

Finally it was time to get into my dress. The girls had all already put theirs on. My maid of honor was just finishing up doing the flower girls hair so we were waiting on her. It was quite the process to put my gown on. It has the tie up in the back so I gave my girls quite the challenge to get it together and tight enough! It was pretty funny.

I think this is enough for one post, will continue on with the ceremony in another one soon

 

[mebbradley]

Huurrryyy up!! I wanna see more! I was freaking out for you when I just read about the power!!! YIKES!

 

[Ash8716]

Huurrryyy up!! I wanna see more! I was freaking out for you when I just read about the power!!! YIKES!

Haha it takes me so long to write all this stuff, there was so much going on. By the time I finish one post I get lazy lol.

I started off calm with the power until I realized this wasn't coming back on. The best part was when someone yelled at us for moving rooms. Seriously???? I think I might have flipped on this person, couldn't help it, I was on edge. It's a funny story looking back on it now

 

[herb102211]

Your dress is stunning and your hair came out so pretty!!!

 

[CourtenayB]

Haha you moved rooms! That is awesome. Good for you. You're the bride, you should do what you want. It's the one day you can do whatever you want to. Power outage = yikes! I'd freak too. But hey it worked out and you all looked fabulous.

 

[LittleKittyMarie]

Getting a convention room for getting ready, that's a really good idea. Too bad the power outage happened, I think I would have really started panicking if it was me. Eep! Loving your photos so far, can't wait to see more!

 

[Ash8716]

Your dress is stunning and your hair came out so pretty!!!

Thank you!

Haha you moved rooms! That is awesome. Good for you. You're the bride, you should do what you want. It's the one day you can do whatever you want to. Power outage = yikes! I'd freak too. But hey it worked out and you all looked fabulous.

Hahaha thats right, thats what I kept telling myself at least! I mean if nobody wanted to fix the power I obviously need to take it upon myself to fix the situation

Getting a convention room for getting ready, that's a really good idea. Too bad the power outage happened, I think I would have really started panicking if it was me. Eep! Loving your photos so far, can't wait to see more!

The convention center room was such an awesome idea. Theres no way we all could have gotten ready in a hotel room without going crazy. There was just too many of us.

 

[Ash8716]

OK I think I am putting way to much detail in my posts because I still haven't made it to walking down the aisle! As I start writing I just keep thinking about all these little details and can't stop writing. Sorry guys

At 10:00 the guys were picked up at the lobby of the Boardwalk. We had a mini motorcoach for the bridal party. They had pictures at the Grand Floridian from 10:30-11. I only have a couple photos of the guys right now but from what I hear they were having a really good time. We convinced our planner that we could have a cooler of alcohol on the bus so they were really enjoying themselves. I'm kind of jealous that things are so much more laid back for the guys. They weren't rushing around to get hair and makeup done. They had time to do a lot of fun shots that we just didn't Oh well!

The bus was coming back to get us at 10:30 so we were up in the lobby around 10. We did few photos in the Boardwalk Lobby with my parents camera while we were waiting.

By this time some of our guests were starting to get to the lobby to catch their bus to the ceremony. I was getting nervous the bus wasn't here and it was almost 10:30. We decided to move down the sidewalk because I didn't want everyone seeing me before the ceremony. So here is my other little bridezilla moment! It was almost 10:45 and no bus. I had no idea how to get a hold of Pamela so I called somebody with Disney and pretty much flipped out that my bus wasn't here. I had a big list of photos I wanted and I just kept seeing the time ticking away. Finally the bus shows up but he goes down to the convention center lobby. We were clearly told the Boardwalk Lobby, (later we find out he did the same with the guys which caused them to be picked up late causing him late for us). My bridesmaids new I was kind of upset so two of the girls took off running through bushes yelling to the driver that we were up the road! This made things better, I couldn't help but laugh watching them. Next thing you know my dad is running after them because they are in gowns running through bushes. It was quite the scene. Anyway bus comes and I yell at the guy eventually apologizing

Finally after what seemed like forever we arrived at the Grand Floridian. I felt like such royalty. Pamela was there to meet us, she was waiting on the ok to let me off the bus. They had to make sure DF was gone. At this point I am sick to my stomach and I tell Pamela this. She quickly gets on the radio and says "the bride is not feeling well, we need crackers and ginger ale." It was so funny and amazing to finally see the side of Disney I was hoping to see all along!! As I got off the bus the Richard, the cute old man, was waiting for me. Awww I couldn't wait for him. He took my train and escorted me into the Grand Floridian. I was so in love! The moment I had been dreaming of my entire life was almost here. We quickly got setup on the stairs for pictures. Oh and my ginger ale and crackers were there too. Pamela kept feeding me in between photos!! We got a lot of pictures on the stairs as I couldn't wait to have the photos. Once we finished all the photos we needed there. I went upstairs and did a few photos up there and then in front of the Christmas tree. My only regret was not getting any outside But that was my choice i had a choice outside or tree because of time.

The rest of the bridal party was heading down to the WP and my big moment, the thing that made me want to have a Disney wedding was coming, around the corner was Cinderellas Coach, waiting for me The doors were opened and I slowly walked outside taking in the moment as best as I could. I got in the coach followed by my parents. I had tears in my eyes I couldn't believe my dream was coming true. This was the moment everything really hit me. All I kept saying to my parents was, "I am in Cinderellas Coach!" To have this moment finally happen was so amazing. These are the pictures I cant wait to see!



Once we were in I asked if we could just make a stop at the entrance at the GF for a couple quick photos. THey said yes!!!! We did a couple photos and then it was off to the WP. My poor photographers at this point. There was so much going on! I had one more little moment. The so called stopping of the construction or should I say the construction that wasn't even suppose to exist for our wedding was going on!!!!!! All I could hear was trucks working and we could see them digging. I was so mad, I couldn't believe this was happening. The anger didn't last long though. The road was blocked off so the coach could go down it. Now at first I was irritated by this but when I was actually there, it was so cool. I felt really special!!! As I was getting out of the coach and walking to the brides room I was so nervous, I was shaking. I didn't think I could do this. The girls were all in the room waiting for me with a drink! I couldn't drink it but it was there if I needed lol.

 

[tric8783]

Love! I love everything! However, OMG the power went out on you??? Then they tried to yell at you for moving for power? Hellooooooooooo! dang.

uh uh. I'm glad you kept doing what you needed to do!

How did you like the room? We are going to try and get one (i think its 2weeks before?). I'm not sure if we'll use it not since we have a villa. I can't decide if we'll have enough room in the villa or need the conference room!

I totally agree that the boys get to relax and have a good time and the girls are stressing- typical! I cannot believe the bus- and can just picture your girls running through the bushes at the BW trying to flag down a bus while you're standing on the sidewalk trying to avoid your guests seeing you. I'm glad it made you laugh and you can look back now and laugh- if I had witnessed this I would have definitely busted out.

The carriage looks awesome and I love the picture of you coming down from it with your shoe peeking out!

more, more more!

 

[ilovedisneyworld]

 

[Ash8716]

Love! I love everything! However, OMG the power went out on you??? Then they tried to yell at you for moving for power? Hellooooooooooo! dang.

uh uh. I'm glad you kept doing what you needed to do!

How did you like the room? We are going to try and get one (i think its 2weeks before?). I'm not sure if we'll use it not since we have a villa. I can't decide if we'll have enough room in the villa or need the conference room!

I totally agree that the boys get to relax and have a good time and the girls are stressing- typical! I cannot believe the bus- and can just picture your girls running through the bushes at the BW trying to flag down a bus while you're standing on the sidewalk trying to avoid your guests seeing you. I'm glad it made you laugh and you can look back now and laugh- if I had witnessed this I would have definitely busted out.

The carriage looks awesome and I love the picture of you coming down from it with your shoe peeking out!

more, more more!

The conference room was the best decision, I would highly recommend it especially since you have a big wedding party. My parents had a 1 bedroom villa and it would have been too tight. There was so much room to spread out, and we weren't on top of each other getting ready. They provide a floor length mirror, chairs, tables and jug of water! If everyone is getting hair and makeup done you have to expect three to four people just for that. I then had my mom, dfs mom, sil, photographers and videographer. We took up most of the room they gave us. If you can get the room, do it!!!! I believe it was either 4 or 2 weeks before hand they will confirm. I kept calling to see how many rooms were booked to see if I was going to get it or if I should think about paying for it.

The picture of me coming out of the carriage is one of my favorites

 

[Ash8716]

Kind of sidetracking but I had to post this photo my photographer sent me last week. It's from the shoot we did before our welcome dinner.

 

[tric8783]

The conference room was the best decision, I would highly recommend it especially since you have a big wedding party. My parents had a 1 bedroom villa and it would have been too tight. There was so much room to spread out, and we weren't on top of each other getting ready. They provide a floor length mirror, chairs, tables and jug of water! If everyone is getting hair and makeup done you have to expect three to four people just for that. I then had my mom, dfs mom, sil, photographers and videographer. We took up most of the room they gave us. If you can get the room, do it!!!! I believe it was either 4 or 2 weeks before hand they will confirm. I kept calling to see how many rooms were booked to see if I was going to get it or if I should think about paying for it.

The picture of me coming out of the carriage is one of my favorites

Hmmm, good to know, thanks!! Yes, my parents have a 1 bedroom also. I wonder if I'll be able to get a schedule from Beaute Speciale to figure out how long each person will take to tell our moms when to come. I'm pretty sure my girls will all be with me all day, and there are 8 including me, plus our FG, the BS people. good point! I'll make sure to keep asking also! We are trying to reserve one on the BW side also to go to before we are introduced to the reception etc and for the wedding party to store things if they need to (maybe baby bags or etc for their kids? idk) Did you keep calling your planner to check or is there another # to call to check how many rooms are still open? We're at 101 days so we've still got some time to wait! THANKS for the tip!!!


Also, love this picture of you guys in front of the ball, so pretty and different!! Glad you were able to get it!

 

[Ash8716]

With that many people get the convention room!!! I am sure Beaute will be able to give you a time frame. It was so nice to have all the space. I called the Boardwalk directly to find out how many rooms. I am sure your planner can tell you but I hated waiting for a response from mine.

That is a neat idea to have a room for before the reception. Just a thought, you will be surprised how fast time goes by between ceremony and reception, you may not have as much time as you think. I know I thought we were going to get so many more pictures and it just didn't happen. We had to cut out going to Shipwreck beach It is amazing how time flies! We were able to have some drinks on our bus going from the ceremony to the reception and then after that df and I were running around like crazy people trying to get pics. (maybe you dont want as many photos as I was trying to get lol) We did have about 15 minutes before we were introduced when our planner brought us some food and a drink. Our wedding party actually went to part of cocktail hour. This wasn't what we originally wanted but it worked. We also put a larger gap in between the ceremony and reception so maybe think about that. I'm not sure how much time you have since everything is relatively in the same area and you don't need to drive to a different location.

 

[tric8783]

I did send Vita an email asking her to watch both the YC (or BC) and BW rooms for me! Originally on our BEO, Maxine had us paying to rent it and she had us using Ariel's, so I'm not sure if this is really an option or not. I guess I'll find out!

I have been trying to decide how our time is going to be spread- we have the ceremony at 5, cocktail 545-645 then reception 7-11. Assuming our ceremony is about 20 minutes, I know our photog's have a 10 minute rule that they get us by ourselves for 10 minutes immediately after the ceremony. My plan is to take family pictures and send family to cocktail hour, then with the wedding party and send them too. Not sure if we'll go too or stay with out photog for more pictures at that point. Hopefully because we dont have far to travel- only from the beach over to the BW, we will be okay on time! I'm sure time will fly by before we even know it!!

 

[NoOrdinaryPrincess]

Just got caught up. Everything looks great!

 

[Ash8716]

I did send Vita an email asking her to watch both the YC (or BC) and BW rooms for me! Originally on our BEO, Maxine had us paying to rent it and she had us using Ariel's, so I'm not sure if this is really an option or not. I guess I'll find out!

I have been trying to decide how our time is going to be spread- we have the ceremony at 5, cocktail 545-645 then reception 7-11. Assuming our ceremony is about 20 minutes, I know our photog's have a 10 minute rule that they get us by ourselves for 10 minutes immediately after the ceremony. My plan is to take family pictures and send family to cocktail hour, then with the wedding party and send them too. Not sure if we'll go too or stay with out photog for more pictures at that point. Hopefully because we dont have far to travel- only from the beach over to the BW, we will be okay on time! I'm sure time will fly by before we even know it!!

Oh perfect. I never knew Ariels was an option but that would be cool!

We did a similar setup for photos. I will get into that once I talk about the ceremony. There was a whole timeline and stuff. You also have to be quick about photos at your ceremony location if you are having stuff moved over to the reception. Basically we did a few photos of Jeff and I before staged exit, then some wedding party and immediate family photos. Immediate family went to cocktail hour and the wedding party did a few more photos over at the Boardwalk. We then sent them to cocktail hour and did some more photos of just us. It is a long day running all over the place! We had about 15 minutes to relax and eat some food before being introduced!

Just got caught up. Everything looks great!

Thank you!!!

 

[Ash8716]

So finally the time had come, I was getting ready to walk down the aisle! The guys had already gone down so they moved us into their room. Pamela lined up the kids and the bridesmaids. I kept trying to sneak a peak but my dad kept grabbing me, he didn't want anybody to see me. I was soooo nervous!

After the flower girls began walking Pamela shut the door and brought me and my dad out. They both knew how nervous I had been and kept asking me if I was ok. Pamela said we didn't need to open the door right away but I kept telling her too and my dad kept telling me to just look at the castle! I kind of forgot to mention to both of them that as soon as we got behind the door all my nerves had gone away. I got this sense of calm. I felt bad for my dad afterwards because he was so worried about me! I had a huge smile on my face walking down aisle, I couldn't have been happier. I took the entire moment in; the wedding party, Jeff, the castle, the guests and all of the decor! It was truly perfect.

I was still a little nervous about the vows so I kept asking Reverend Kevin to break up the sentences a bit more!! haha. He probably thought I was crazy. Finally he pronounced us officially husband and wife and the organ began playing Disney's Electrical Parade. Jeff and I both started laughing, it sounded so good!

We headed right back to picture point for a few pictures while the guests got lined up for our staged exits. For whatever reason this point was a little blurry for me. I think things were just going so fast and there was so much excitement just being married. I can't wait to see the photos at this point because we may have done other photos but I just don't remember. I think we may have gone back into the pavilion and done a few photos as well.

The staged exit was so much fun. Everyone threw flowers as walked through. Cinderellas Coach was waiting for us at the end. We kissed our parents and got into the coach and pretended to ride away! Jeff was so excited, he didn't think he would care about the coach but he loved it. He couldn't get over how cool it was. At this point our guests were getting into the coach to head to the Boardwalk. We had a gap in between our ceremony and reception so we had more time for photos. This meant that the guests would have a little extra time to walk the Boardwalk before going into the Atlantic Dance Hall for cocktail hour. Disney didn't like this idea so much, they thought we would lose guests but everyone showed up

Once our guests left we came back for some more photos with the wedding party and family. We did several photos inside the pavilion and on the bridge. We also did most of our wedding party photos out on the dock. I can't wait to see those photos. I wanted to get to the beach but we were being rushed along so oh well.

Once we finished our pictures the motor coach had come back to get our family. The wedding party got onto a separate bus and Jeff and I got to get back in Cinderella's Coach. We were not expecting this!!!! We got to ride the coach back to the Grand Floridian We were so happy that we got to have a longer ride. It was so nice to be by ourselves for those few minutes and take everything in. We spent those few minutes talking about everything that just happened and how we were actually married! We had dealt with so much along the way, it was nice to finally be at this point. As we pulled up to the Grand Floridian the wedding party bus was waiting for us. We could hear them all yelling and banging on the windows. It was great! We had to say goodbye to Cinderella's Coach but it was time to see what was waiting at the Atlantic Dance Hall. When we got on the bus they were all cheering and had drinks ready for us. We all toasted and off we went! One of the photographers was with us at this point and tried to get some photos of us toasting so hopefully they came out!

 

[Ash8716]

Again sorry for all the pictures I keep posting but it was just so amazing!

When the bus got to the Boardwalk I realized time was going by really fast even with adding that extra time between ceremony and reception. I think by this time we had a little less than an hour to get all the pictures I wanted and to get to ADH by 2:45. One photographer went with our family so she could get photos of all the details before everyone entered the reception and the other was with us doing photos. We did a few more photos with the entire wedding party and then we sent them off to cocktail hour. We spent the next 45 minutes or so doing some fun bridal portraits along the Boardwalk! I really wanted to get over to shipwreck beach but there just wasn't anytime. Bob our photographer was in communication with Pamela so he kept getting the time warnings So here are a few photos we have gotten so far.

After finishing up our photos my maid of honor and Pamela met us in the lobby of ADH. My MOH was going to do a quick fix on my hair so it would hold the rest of the night! Pamela had drinks and food for us as well. I feel like I had to eat it so fast since we were on a time crunch for introductions. The food was really good though wish we could have had some more. I have to say it is amazing how well they take care of you on your wedding day. Too bad this wasn't the way it was throughout the entire process.

We never got to see how cocktail hour was setup but from what everyone said it was amazing. My parents were really unsure about the antipasto display but they said it was huge and really good! The setup was supposedly really nice. Again I can't wait to share these photos when we get them! We also did a signature blue drink that was to be brought around during cocktail hour. It was also available at the bar during reception. Everyone loved the drink we chose!

We were a little after 3:00 before we were ready to be introduced but that was no big deal. Before everybody else was brought downstairs for the reception Pamela brought us through the reception area. I actually got tears in my eyes seeing everything. I couldn't believe how the room looked. To see all the planning finally put together was just amazing. I loved the linens and flowers, it was beautiful. The only thing that was disappointing was that our wedding cake was the wrong color and not just slightly off but completely off. It was a turquoise instead of Cinderella Blue! Seriously??? They were suppose to have the color swatch to match it too. But since it was the wedding day nothing was going to bother me, no matter what it was. The cake was still beautiful I just couldn't look at the color! Pamela felt really bad and contacted the bakery to find out what had happened. I wasn't going to make a big deal of anything at that point, I was on such a high but my mom had already done so I guess. She was really upset about it, which I don't blame her. We had assumed we would be getting a good deal of money back since they messed up so badly but when we spoke to that women Jennifer when we got home she was just plain nasty. It was another one of those "I'm sorry you weren't happy with the color." Well obviously I wasn't happy with the color, its not at all what I wanted nor was it what was in the BEO. She wouldn't apologize or admit they made a mistake. I absolutely hate that women, she is also the one who we dealt with about the construction that was not supposed to be happening on our wedding day. They are unbelievable and she is just plain mean! We worked so hard to have everything match and then you do that and not even take responsibility. We paid a lot of money for a custom cake that had to be approved by the bakery. Now we have to look at the wrong color cake in all of our pictures They even put the cake on top of the Cinderella blue linens which made it look even worse! I guess nothing surprises me! This was the only thing though that was not right, thank god! I guess there were a couple of minor things my mom said with some food but nothing that mattered.

 

[QueenieMeg24]

Just finished reading all the way through and love it! Everything looks and sounds amazing. We are getting married 12/10/12 at the WP and having the reception at ADH so it's been great reading your experiences and LOVE your pictures.