"I brushed my teeth, and I don't have cooties." An August DFTW and Disneymoon TR

[missjackiemcg]

Ok, so I forgot that while in mid-wedding day update (like 4 updates ago!!) my computer crashed and I never got back to reading. Imagine my VERY happy surprise when I just realized I had a lot of catching up to do!!!

Your wedding pictures are just beautiful. They really capture such special, personal moments, and it feels like I was there! Your photographer really did a great job of catching your glances and reactions at lots of moments in the ceremony and afterward! I loved looking at them all

WOO HOO for another Disney trip planned already!!

Oh, I quoted something I think...

I got this idea from @missjackiemcg, who I think got it from another Diser. Illuminations actually became a bit of a theme strung through our wedding and Disneymoon, and it became very meaningful to me.

Oh, yea, it was about me LOL I'm so glad you were able to use this idea I swiped from someone else!! It was such a special part of our ceremony having my Mom read it, too. Your Grandma was too cute with her little decorated folder!!

Enter Sandman. Metallica.

YES. I wish! At our wedding, my husband and I entered our reception to "For Whom the Bell Tolls"

 

[the2ndstar2theright]

The cake cutting pictures with and without Mickey and Minnie are so sweet! So glad that you had such great help in your wedding planner. The ceremony looks/sounds absolutely stunning!

 

[disneyAndi14]

First, I love your plans for Dec./Jan. Trip, we FP RoL and really enjoyed it. Tiffins is so awesome.

The wedding ceremony looks so lovely. The pictures, the scriptures, and vows were just beautiful!

Beautiful song choices as well.

So excited for your Feb. trip. We will be there the same time. Our trip is 2/15 to 2/24. We have been many times over Presidents Day week and it is busy but nothing like Easter time. Hopefully we can have a Dis meet! We are staying at BLT.

 

[MeghanEmily]

Ok, so I forgot that while in mid-wedding day update (like 4 updates ago!!) my computer crashed and I never got back to reading. Imagine my VERY happy surprise when I just realized I had a lot of catching up to do!!!

Haha yes, I did have quite a burst of update productivity there for a bit, so I gave you lots to read!

Your wedding pictures are just beautiful. They really capture such special, personal moments, and it feels like I was there! Your photographer really did a great job of catching your glances and reactions at lots of moments in the ceremony and afterward! I loved looking at them all

Thank you! I thought so, too.

Oh, yea, it was about me LOL I'm so glad you were able to use this idea I swiped from someone else!! It was such a special part of our ceremony having my Mom read it, too. Your Grandma was too cute with her little decorated folder!!

It worked so nicely for us and our ceremony! And my grandmother was pretty adorable. She gets stubborn about the funniest things like that.

The cake cutting pictures with and without Mickey and Minnie are so sweet! So glad that you had such great help in your wedding planner. The ceremony looks/sounds absolutely stunning!

Thank you! We really lucked out with our planner, though I'm sure they're all great.

First, I love your plans for Dec./Jan. Trip, we FP RoL and really enjoyed it. Tiffins is so awesome.

Thanks! I'm really looking forward to it! It's coming up soon all of a sudden I also liked ROL. We FP'd it in the summer, and while I wouldn't necessarily feel like I had to see it every trip, we thought it was beautiful.

The wedding ceremony looks so lovely. The pictures, the scriptures, and vows were just beautiful!

Beautiful song choices as well.

Thank you! Those were a few things that we really did put a lot of thought into. I love how it all came together.

So excited for your Feb. trip. We will be there the same time. Our trip is 2/15 to 2/24. We have been many times over Presidents Day week and it is busy but nothing like Easter time. Hopefully we can have a Dis meet! We are staying at BLT.

I'm excited, too! That's exciting that we'll be there the same time! Hopefully we can coordinate a quick meet! That's also good to hear about President's Day. We've done Disney over the holidays before (and obviously we will be this December/January, too) so at least we're used to handling busy crowds. It would have been nice for my break to have been almost any other time in February to take advantage of the lower crowds, but as long as it's a trip to Disney I'm not going to complain! I can't wait to hear what you think of BLT—it should be beautiful!

 

[pkondz]

YES. I wish! At our wedding, my husband and I entered our reception to "For Whom the Bell Tolls"

Niiiice.

 

[MeghanEmily]

WEDDING DAY: Ceremony Wrap-Up
Disney Day 3 - Part 7

Alrighty, I don't know about you, but I think it's about time to get this whole wedding thing put to bed! (Or at least the DFTW event portion of it...lots more to come later in the day of course...) This update will be photo heavy, so I'll have to break it up into a few posts. (And I apologize in advance: there are so many photos to worry about in this TR that I haven't bothered to edit any of the photos in these upcoming sections. Shocking, I know! The pictures feel incredibly naked, but 'dem's da breaks.)

After our "first dance," Amanda got us all together with Mickey and Minnie to take some official wedding photos.

For your viewing pleasure, I "photo dump" them here for you now:

(Here, everyone was supposed to look excited, while N and I kissed. If you can't tell with the smaller/grainier photo resolution, my little cousin is yawning. lol)

We brought a photo mat for characters to sign during our honeymoon, and we wanted Mickey and Minnie to be the very first signatures at our wedding ceremony...

This photo perfectly depicts my family at events...

After photos, sadly, it was time for Mickey and Minnie to say "Goodbye."

But it wasn't too sad, though, because that meant it was time for cake!

continued in next post...​

 

[MeghanEmily]

...continued from pervious post...

The violinist played on...

And cake was consumed. According to my little cousin, the cake passed the test...

And look! You can see N and me in the background as we make our second attempt to eat some of the cake...

Mmmmm, cake!

I took a first "married selfie."

No sooner had we started to dig in...then suddenly there were lots of distractions...

We needed photos of the flowers and rings, both on my phone...and then as soon as N's mother noticed what we were doing, they all had to be repeated on her camera as well...

While Brad took possession of the bouquet...

...the ladies partied it up!

Selfie game was strong this morning.

P.S. I never did toss the bouquet. That thing would have taken someone down with it, guaranteed!

While we were busy doing this, Amanda swiped the rings to photograph them for me since that was one of my requests for picture priorities.

Then, it was at this point that N's parents started to get concerned..."Is that it for pictures??"

As in, we only took wedding/family pictures with Mickey and Minnie Mouse in them...so of course we needed to repeat ALL the photos without the mice...and so we did...we were running out of time before the hour was up, and it would have been nice to have a moment to sit and reflect and savour the moment...but...*cries* Bye, bye cake!...

continued in next post...​

 

[MeghanEmily]

...continued from previous post...

Since this wedding would only ever happen once, it was important to make sure everyone had photos to memorialize it, of course! And apparently those photos weren't legit if they had life-size mice in them...so the photos recommenced! First, Amanda snapped one I'd been hoping for which showed off our magic band decals (something blue!)

Then we re-took most of the family photos... #photodump!

In this moment, Amanda showed how awesome she could be. My little cousin isn't a fan of smiling in pictures sometimes, and he was starting to get seriously tired at this point. This was our first family photo...

Then Amanda noticed his lack of enthusiasm, and she was awesome with him trying to get him to smile.

Much better!

Once photos were taken and everyone was satisfied, I made a nosedive for my cake! Attempt #3!

A couple more bites in... (my notes just say "floppy cake." I seem to recall that the cake was starting to wilt at this point and the allergy-friendly frosting was becoming soupy.) ...and just like that, it was time to go! WHAT? Nooo!

We were all led out of the Canada Pavilion to take the shuttle back to the resorts, and while Samantha helped N and I get organized and make sure we didn't leave anything behind, the rest of the folks occupied themselves by taking a few more photos outside...

My mom and N's mom looked after boxing up the rest of the cake, and N's mom brought it with her on the motor coach for us. Once she got on the bus she noticed that the box was secreting oil from the melting frosting. Ick! She did her best to shield her dress.

The moment I hit the bus seat...I immediately started fading fast! Once the adrenaline that had gotten me through the crazy toasty morning was gone, there was nothing left to rely on, and I started to crash. All I could do was focus on not puking through the ride back to Coronado Springs (motion sickness + heat + tired = a lethal combination for me!), and all I could think of was how badly I wanted to change my clothes and let down my hair! I took a melting-in-the-motor-coach-selfie, and we headed "home."

continued in next post...​

 

[MeghanEmily]

...continued from previous post...

Before I continue with the rest of the day (including our makeshift "reception" meal) I just want to do a reflection post with some post-wedding thoughts...

​

Wedding dress: I loved my dress. It's from the Alfred Angelo Disney line (from a few years ago), one of the Snow White ones, and I had seen it online and knew I wanted to try it on. A few months before I went dress shopping it was discontinued, and so I needed to buy it off the rack from a tiny little dress shop a few hours from where we live. Now that Alfred Angelo has gone bankrupt and shut down, I'm even more grateful that I bought it when I did! It was beautiful quality, and perfect for my style. I didn't think I'd want an ivory dress, but that was all they had left, and when I tried it on I was shocked at how "white" it looked. It was much better for my complexion than a true white. It was also on sale since it was a sample, and I paid $999 CAD plus tax. (Which is pretty great since our dollar is worth way less than yours! Still more than I would have spent on another dress, but less than most people seem to spend, and it was the dress.) Only complaint? The lace around the front/bottom of the arm holes cut into my skin and became really red and painful before the morning was out. ...worth it.

Bridal party: We had a great group. One of my bridesmaids has even been my best friend since the first day of preschool when we were 3. I wasn't too worried about not having an equal number of girls/guys, and nobody else seemed too concerned about it either. As you may have read in the comments, there was a bit of a concern with some awkward history between the best man and one of my bridesmaids, but everyone was chill and got along well for our benefit. I was also a little concerned about my bridesmaids, who were virtually strangers, having to spend a night in a hotel together and hang out, etc. But they're both sweet, and one of them is great at connecting with new people, so they ended up getting along really well. Score! My only wish here was that we'd all had more time together to enjoy Disney and hang out a bit, but it was a short whirlwind trip for them all. N and I paid for their flights, and for two nights at our hotel for them, just to make sure that they (as students and young professionals) wouldn't have any financial barriers to spending our wedding with us. We told them they were welcome to bring family/friends or extend their trips on their own, and they had all planned to, but it didn't end up working out for most of them. But we were glad to have them for the time we did!

The Venue: The Canada Pavilion was a dream! I loved our wedding location. It looked beautiful in the morning light and provided some really nice neutral backgrounds for photos. Since we chose an Escape ceremony package, we were only given four choices for locations, and Canada was the only one that was located inside a park, so it was an easy choice for me. It meant that there were some things I couldn't do, like book Cinderella's carriage for my entrance, but after reading some pros and cons about it I didn't think it would be at all worth the extravagant cost for me anyway, so no harm there. The trade off was that we had to have a morning ceremony, but I liked this because we got through our ceremony before the heat of the day really hit full force. One downside, though, was that nobody (except ME!!) felt like eating cake first thing in the morning, and we had even more leftovers than I think we would have otherwise. This also leads to...

Bridal Portrait Session (same day as wedding): even earlier in the morning!! Having the portrait session was also a bit of a no-brainer for us. Initially we'd considered doing it at Animal Kingdom instead since we both love the park, and it was about half the price of Magic Kingdom, but we couldn't get over the thought of once-in-a-lifetime wedding pictures in those iconic MK locations. I made the decision to do this all on the same morning as our wedding, which was a bit of a controversial one. Most people schedule this photo session on a different day from their wedding because of how exhausted you are and how early you need to get up. I figured if we were having an early morning wedding anyway, what would another couple hours hurt? I was warned about the fatigue issue, and also about the possibility of getting my dress wet and dirty in the MK before the wedding ceremony. Also, it meant we would see each other before the ceremony. I was okay with all of those risks/cons because I only wanted to have to get up that early one day on our trip, and I couldn't justify the cost/time of getting hair/makeup done twice, or having to either pay for a new bouquet or to have mine refreshed for the photo shoot. In the end, I have 0 regrets about doing it this way. It's not the right choice for everyone, but it was for us. Also, call me crazy, but I just couldn't get over taking my wedding photos on a day that wasn't my wedding. If we'd had an afternoon ceremony I think I would reconsider though. The session itself was an amazing memory, and it felt like for just a moment we had the whole of the Magic Kingdom to ourselves to do whatever we pleased. It feels surreal to think about it. And I love having our photos. Excellent outrageous over-spending splurge!

Aug. 17th: Our date was chosen because I wanted to do it between quitting my job and returning to school in September, and also when my family members/friends who were teachers or students would be able to attend on their summer breaks. We got a lot of flak from N's side of the family for choosing a summer date in Florida, and I was quite worried before we left about the heat. N's family kept nagging us to have it over Christmas break instead, but I didn't want to...for a ginormous list of reasons, including...

1. I love celebrating Christmas and wanted it to be its own separate special thing.
2. I didn't want to be worried about travelling that far in the winter and getting delayed or cancelled due to poor weather.
3. We wanted to drive, and we'd have to fly in December to avoid bad roads.
4. I'm not a fan of winter weddings, even if it wouldn't "feel" like winter in Florida. Just not my style.
5. I wanted our anniversary to be in the summer for ease of celebrating/travelling.
6. I struggle pretty seriously with seasonal affective disorder and didn't want to be planning/having a wedding while I was "SAD."
7. I didn't want to be in the most stressful parts of wedding planning while I'd just started my masters.​

...and the list went on. In the end, I love that we picked this date. I handled the heat SO much better than I expected (I'd planned for the absolute worst) and logistically it just worked for us. It also meant we had time for a super long trip/honeymoon—nearly 3 weeks including travel days.

Driving instead of flying: Everyone tried to convince me I'd regret this. And it was a LONG drive, with a few tense moments, a lot of motion sickness on the way down (not much on the way back! Yay!), and a fair bit of boredom. ...It was also really fun, and I'm 100% glad we did it. I would even do it again.

Mickey and Minnie: This was an awesome magical splurge and was so worth it to me! A few months prior to the wedding, N was working at a con in Florida and met some Disney cast members who wanted Mickey-themed paintings because they were friends with the main mice. When N told them he was getting married at Disney and inviting the mice, one of them got very sneaky-like and asked him what date it would be. Then they told him they'd have to decide on a signal together to give Mickey, and if Mickey's friend was there that day that Mickey would give N the signal. N swears that Mickey gave him the signal that morning! Is it true? I'll never know...but it seems that Mickey may have been especially watching out for us and wishing us well that day...

Photo mat: we brought this to get signed through the trip, and it was a huge pain to lug around. I kept it in a giant ziplock to keep it from getting rained on, and as much as I tried to keep it in good shape, the corners had started bending by the end of the trip. I still think it's worth it though, because it hangs on our wall now and I love it. It was a huge pain in the butt, and I'll probably never do it again, but it was worth it for our wedding. It appears throughout the rest of this TR, but here's a spoiler with how it turned out...

​

Hair and makeup: Laura Reynolds Artistry: It was a challenge to choose an artist only by reading reviews and looking at pictures without being able to do a trial run with them first, so I really went out on a limb here. You all know most of my feelings on how things went with Laura. She did a really nice job and I liked her style a lot for the most part. She also had a really good attitude, even first thing in the early early hours of the morning, and made me feel pretty and confident, even going as far as to look at the photos of my "princess friends" when I showed her how I usually do my makeup for that, and telling me what a perfect look I have and how much fun it would be if I'm ever back in Orlando for us to get together for her to experiment with different makeup/hair and photograph me, etc. And not in a creepy way. lol. I didn't, however, feel like my makeup looked like "me," though it did photograph nicely. I was also put off by the fact that she'd told me in emails that she gives touch up kits, and not to worry about the makeup in the heat, etc...but my makeup did melt a bit. And her touch up kit only included some Q-tips and a sponge that had a bit of powder makeup on it for me to blot/touch up my foundation. There wasn't anything for my lips, and I'm notorious for lipstick coming off. She even asked me if I had any lip gloss or anything with me that I could use for my touch ups when my lips wore off...and I was like "No! Cuz that was supposed to be your job!" ugh. Oh well. Otherwise good. My bridesmaids had similar feelings—they mostly really liked her, but Erin found her makeup a little heavy and actually wiped off her "eyebrows" and fixed them before the ceremony.

RevKev: Again, you know a lot about RevKev already. If you read my PTR, you'll know that RevKev agreed to meet with us free of charge to go over things when we went to Orlando for a long weekend in May. I really liked him, and I thought he looked nice in pictures, had a nice-sounding voice that projects well, and had a very calming presence. He also did a nice job of incorporating things that were important to us, and he spoke warmly and like he knew us personally. I'd definitely recommend him to other couples if they felt he'd be a good fit for them.

Erin McKenna’s cake: In my PTR I also talked about getting to do a cake tasting when we went in May. I liked the staff there, and was really surprised and pleased with all the extra options they could offer me. DFTW was a little weird about sorting out with them whether I'd need to pay extra for the allergy-cake substitution (since I opted to go with cupcakes instead of a two-tier cake), but in the end they decided it could be included in my wedding price. I found communication with the bakery to be weird, and complicated, and slow, both in calling them, and in emailing. But I had been worried the cake would be dry and unappetizing, and it was delicious!! Some people said they couldn't tell it was gluten/dairy free, and others said they liked it even more than a regular cake. It really was that good. I plan to order special cupcakes for our 6-month anniversary when we go in February, with the chocolate brownie cupcake and the cinnamon frosting like our wedding cupcakes. The only problem was that it melted so quickly, and even when we put the leftovers in our hotel mini fridge, they weren't very appetizing after that point.

DFTW & Samantha: Our experiences here were mostly awesome. We started out coordinating things with Pam, one of their heads, and then she assigned us to Samantha. Pam was AWESOME. I only ever communicated with her by phone or email, but she was amazing. Samantha was also great though, as I already mentioned. There were a few times when I would read something on the wedding boards of the DIS that had been done for another couple, and then I'd ask DFTW about it and they'd give me conflicting info, which was frustrating. There was also a weird thing about our room block and free night that ended up being like this, and it ended up that they made me feel like they were doing me a favour for something that I knew other brides had done that didn't conflict with any rules, etc., but I can't speak to any details because I was asked explicitly not to discuss it on any social media platforms...it was just weird. But everything worked out fine. My pre-wedding phone call with Samantha really helped us to know we had everything under control. And on the day everything went super smoothly.

Escape ceremony: Worked perfectly for us. We didn't mind not having an official "reception" included, and the guest list size and location was exactly what we needed. My only concern was that I felt things were quite rushed. The other Escape locations allow for 2 hours, I believe, but since we were in Epcot we could only have one hour. I felt we could have used a little more guidance after the ceremony portion was over to know how much time we had left and what we should be doing at any given time. (i.e. when I should eat my cake!) (Also, weirdly Samantha kept saying things to me like, "if people actually want to eat cake here," as if it was all just for show and then we'd transport it somewhere else to eat it...but she knew we didn't have any reception planned. So of course we'd be eating the cake!) It just felt a bit rushed and disorganized after the ceremony part was over.

DFAP and Amanda: You know that I had an overall very positive experience with Amanda. I was incredibly worried about hiring a Disney photographer since you can't guarantee who you get, but we requested Amanda as our first choice and got her. Some issues though: you may have noticed in some of our photos that in the editing process some of the colours were altered. I wouldn't mind this, except they were inconsistent with photos taken in the same locations/light. It was unfortunate because the blue colour I chose for our wedding colour isn't the true cobalt blue in a lot of the shots. Also, I didn't include NEARLY all our photos in this TR...we were given A LOT. This is good in that we had lots of photos to choose from, but I also felt that the DFAP photographers must be spread thin enough that they don't have a lot of time to spend on editing, because it felt like she kind of just sent us almost everything she shot without going through and using her expertise to pick the best ones. Some of the pictures we got are just a bunch of duplicates of the same pose, but with slightly less attractive facial expressions, slightly worse lighting, etc. Also, I had a piece of hair that started sticking out part way through the shoot, and I noticed it and Amanda fixed it with a bobby pin from my hair. But then apparently it popped back out, and I would have expected a photographer to notice it and fix it before photographing it the rest of the day. It's a tiny thing, but it's something that my favourite photographers at home are meticulous about, and I notice it every time I look at my photos now. Despite how much I loved Amanda, I do still regret not hiring an outside photographer, or at least not hiring a second shooter who could take more candid photos and get things from different angles—like in the "first look" photos, for example.

Overall decision to have a destination wedding vs. a traditional wedding at home: 100% good choice for us. 3.5 months later, I still look back on it as one of the best things that we've ever done, and I think it will really stand the test of time as one of the best moments of our lives. If we'd spent the same amount of money at home we could have had a much bigger and more elaborate wedding, but that's not what we wanted. There were sacrifices, for sure, but they weren't as important to us as they were to other people like N's family. There was definitely some major family drama there, and he had family members who either couldn't, or decided they wouldn't come. I also had some family drama, which you may remember from my PTR. N's family is also pretty traditional, and they were unsure about a wedding at Disney, but I think they really did find it tasteful and special once they got there. Everyone was pleasantly surprised. It did mean that we had to take a weekend this fall and roadtrip home to N's church for an awkward wedding shower/reception/party, but it was definitely worth it. And another upside is that N's family members were forced to finally go to Disney for the first time, and it really busted some of the stereotypes and concerns they had about it...and now they already talk about going back.

Next time: the TR continues with the rest of the wedding day, incl. naps, my hair getting sick of me and leaving, and a fake reception...​

 

[amalone1013]

I love all the pictures with Mickey and Minnie! And your rings are so pretty - beautiful rings for beautiful people

and then as soon as N's mother noticed what we were doing, they all had to be repeated on her camera as well...

My grandpa showed up with a digital camera he purchased just for the wedding. Our photographers were such good sports they took a lot of the posed shots on his camera as well

and when I tried it on I was shocked at how "white" it looked. It was much better for my complexion than a true white.

My dress was also ivory and it was great. I was worried about looking like a ghost in all white...

It meant that there were some things I couldn't do, like book Cinderella's carriage for my entrance, but after reading some pros and cons about it I didn't think it would be at all worth the extravagant cost for me anyway, so no harm there.

The carriage seems like something that costs A LOT for the time you get with it, versus something like characters.

Most people schedule this photo session on a different day from their wedding because of how exhausted you are and how early you need to get up. I figured if we were having an early morning wedding anyway, what would another couple hours hurt?

I think I would have done this too for all of the same reasons. I already got up at 5am for our wedding, so a bit earlier sounds better than a second early morning, and we had already planned for taking photos before the ceremony.

In the end, I love that we picked this date. I handled the heat SO much better than I expected (I'd planned for the absolute worst) and logistically it just worked for us. It also meant we had time for a super long trip/honeymoon—nearly 3 weeks including travel days.

You do you! Really, I'm glad you guys stuck with it because it's no one else's choice or business about what day you pick. I liked that I didn't have to wait so long for our first look and ceremony with a morning wedding.

and then I'd ask DFTW about it and they'd give me conflicting info, which was frustrating.

We had quite a mess with Disney Catered Events for our dessert party. They did waive some charges, but we were in a spot where at the beginning of September we didn't even know if everything planned for our dessert party was happening. It was really stressful... and after, they didn't acknowledge to us that they waived things, or say much after the fact, I just saw it on our BEO. They didn't say anything to me about social media, so I'll have a little detail in my TR about it.

(Also, weirdly Samantha kept saying things to me like, "if people actually want to eat cake here," as if it was all just for show and then we'd transport it somewhere else to eat it...but she knew we didn't have any reception planned. So of course we'd be eating the cake!)

That's very silly... really, if you'd been planning to eat it somewhere else, you probably wouldn't have done photos there since your cake needed special handling... you would think they would think about that, knowing it was an allergy cake and had to be set up DURING your ceremony

Overall decision to have a destination wedding vs. a traditional wedding at home: 100% good choice for us. 3.5 months later, I still look back on it as one of the best things that we've ever done, and I think it will really stand the test of time as one of the best moments of our lives. If we'd spent the same amount of money at home we could have had a much bigger and more elaborate wedding, but that's not what we wanted. There were sacrifices, for sure, but they weren't as important to us as they were to other people like N's family. There was definitely some major family drama there, and he had family members who either couldn't, or decided they wouldn't come. I also had some family drama, which you may remember from my PTR.

This is us, except 2.5 months later

We stayed in our original budget (would have been slightly over without those things getting waived) but it would have been so much harder at home with a big wedding. And arguments over whether people would/should help put chairs away (this is a thing that happened in my life). And getting worked up over some little detail I didn't actually care about. And false promises of money to help. And people pushing to skip any type of wedding for a cheap Vegas wedding. These are all things that happened in my life - ahhhhhhh! Anyways, we also had drama which was mostly non-wedding related but affecting the wedding. I'm so happy with what we did. We paid for everything ourselves except the cruise, which was a gift from Zack's parents. I wish I had stuck to that when people were falsely promising money early on... just us pay, and they could give a cash gift if they wanted. Oh well. It was perfect, small and intimate, and the important people were there, and they were truly happy for us. And then we spent time in the parks with everyone

 

[pkondz]

Alrighty, I don't know about you, but I think it's about time to get this whole wedding thing put to bed!

Um.... I think that part should remain private between the bride and groom, but maybe I'm just old fashioned.

(And I apologize in advance: there are so many photos to worry about in this TR that I haven't bothered to edit any of the photos in these upcoming sections.

No worries! Rather see them then not because of the mountain of editing you might do.

The pictures feel incredibly naked

Again? I already told you this should be between just the two of you! Does N know?

For your viewing pleasure, I "photo dump" them here for you now:

And thanks for all of them! Really enjoyed looking at them all.

If you can't tell with the smaller/grainier photo resolution, my little cousin is yawning. lol)

And while I enjoyed all the photos,
these two especially are cute:

This photo perfectly depicts my family at events...

But it wasn't too sad, though, because that meant it was time for cake!

Finally! Cake! You get to eat.... oh.

The violinist played on...

Hells Bells, ACDC.

Such elegance! Such poise!

nom nom nom!

I took a first "married selfie."

Awwwww.

While Brad took possession of the bouquet...

That means he's getting married next, no?

P.S. I never did toss the bouquet. That thing would have taken someone down with it, guaranteed!

"Woman gets concussed and then gets engaged to EMT."


It could so, happen.

While we were busy doing this, Amanda swiped the rings to photograph them for me since that was one of my requests for picture priorities.

Like those. Like the macro effect she used. Clever.

it would have been nice to have a moment to sit and reflect and savour the moment

This only happens after, not during.

(something blue!)

Hey! Love those! Did you get a lot of comments on them?

Once photos were taken and everyone was satisfied, I made a nosedive for my cake! Attempt #3!

Third time's the charm!

No?

Once she got on the bus she noticed that the box was secreting oil from the melting frosting. Ick! She did her best to shield her dress.

Um.... ew.

All I could do was focus on not puking through the ride back to Coronado Springs (motion sickness + heat + tired = a lethal combination for me!),

Plus only eating (a little) sugar.

Wedding dress: I loved my dress.

Me too. One of the nicer ones I've seen.

It was also on sale since it was a sample, and I paid $999 CAD plus tax.

Not bad!

Also, call me crazy, but I just couldn't get over taking my wedding photos on a day that wasn't my wedding.

No. You are 100% right here.
I've only shot two weddings, but... The bride never looks the same on any other day. Brides glow.
One my first shoot, (pre-digital) I shot a double exposure of the couple and their home (where the wedding was). They loved it, but... it wasn't quite perfect (something that's very hard to do when you're essentially just guessing where everything is.) So they asked me to reshoot it the following week.

Yeah.... it was a complete failure. Looked very forced, totally different feel to it.


Ya done good.

1. I love celebrating Christmas and wanted it to be its own separate special thing.

I agree.

6. I struggle pretty seriously with seasonal affective disorder and didn't want to be planning/having a wedding while I was "SAD."

And that right there is enough of a reason to have everyone just back right off.

Photo mat

Very nice souvenir!

 

[wrestlingchick26]

Your rings are stunning.
Love all the pics

 

[amazingact21]

Oh man, someone was cutting onions during your explanation of the best man's speech and backstory. Thanks for including those special little touches that made the ceremony even more beautiful. (The one of your grandmother still warms my heart.)

I couldn't help but laugh at the constant attempts to eat cake. The bride and groom are kept so busy during the wedding that they barely get to enjoy the actual event!

Mickey and Minnie looked so dapper next to ya'll.

Unfortunately, I'm not surprised some family members wanted non-character photos...

Sorry after the ceremony was a little rough. That early morning, two park visits, ceremony, stress over the guests, stress over everything going correctly, hustle and bustle, and that heat had to make for a long, long morning!

 

[kastoney]

So you all know what that means!! Another Disney trip!!

Woohoo!!!!!!!!!! So excited for your

But, anyway...I'm excited!! And, spoiler alert: it'll give us an opportunity to go to Jiko for the first time, which we cancelled for December/January, as well as to try something new that I kept getting recommendations for back when I booked our Trail's End ADR...and that's Hoop Dee Doo Musical Review! Yay for more Disney!

yeah! I hope you love Jiko!!!! Its one of our absolute favorites. And definitely do hoop dee doo if you can, I know you'd love it!

The cake looks awesome!!!!! What a great idea to have both cake and cupcakes. Seems much easier than cutting two cakes.

efore the cake cutting we were arranged for a specific photo because we'd brought bubbles for our guests...

Love this. Though you should have gotten them some of the bubble blasters they sell for kids in the park. Now that would have been a LOT of bubbles

I also include this photo because it's the only picture we got from the whole day (other than the terrible one above) that featured our wedding coordinator, Samantha...

..while N's best man, Brad, spoke and gave the toast. N and Brad actually became friends because Brad was my roommate in school for my first degree, and it was as much for me (or even more so) as it was for N that he chose to ask Brad to stand up with him.

How special. It sounds like he was the perfect choice for both of you!

The main mice came to our wedding!!

This is amazing. Did you know this was going to happen?

(Here, everyone was supposed to look excited, while N and I kissed. If you can't tell with the smaller/grainier photo resolution, my little cousin is yawning. lol)

Love how you can fit everyone in one photo, yawning or not!

While we were busy doing this, Amanda swiped the rings to photograph them for me since that was one of my requests for picture priorities.

These are great. Side note, if you ever have kids one day one of my favorite pictures when Casey was born was of our wedding rings hanging from her toes

As in, we only took wedding/family pictures with Mickey and Minnie Mouse in them...so of course we needed to repeat ALL the photos without the mice...and so we did...we were running out of time before the hour was up, and it would have been nice to have a moment to sit and reflect and savour the moment...but...*cries* Bye, bye cake!...

A couple more bites in... (my notes just say "floppy cake." I seem to recall that the cake was starting to wilt at this point and the allergy-friendly frosting was becoming soupy.) ...and just like that, it was time to go! WHAT? Nooo!

Double

Wedding dress: I loved my dress. It's from the Alfred Angelo Disney line (from a few years ago), one of the Snow White ones, and I had seen it online and knew I wanted to try it on.

It was gorgeous and couldn't have been more perfect

 

[MeghanEmily]

I love all the pictures with Mickey and Minnie! And your rings are so pretty - beautiful rings for beautiful people

Thank you!! I loved our rings. We picked them out together. Nathan typically likes more of your black/tungsten kinda rings, but we didn't like that they can't be resized or cut off, etc.

My grandpa showed up with a digital camera he purchased just for the wedding. Our photographers were such good sports they took a lot of the posed shots on his camera as well

This is so cute!! I'm glad your photographers went with it—it probably meant a lot to him to have those pictures! My grandmother is pretty photo-happy. But she's always taking pictures with her digital camera that are out of focus and she can never figure out why. Or she'll think she's taking a picture and then not understand why it didn't work because the camera was making a sound as it focused, but it never actually took the picture.

My dress was also ivory and it was great. I was worried about looking like a ghost in all white...

Good choice! Ivory is much more flattering to a lighter skin tone I found! I tried on a true white dress and I felt like I was a light source it was so bright!

The carriage seems like something that costs A LOT for the time you get with it, versus something like characters.

100% agreed. For some people that's the dream, and if that's the case and you can afford it then I'm certainly not going to be one to judge. We spent money on things that other people wouldn't understand or want, too, I guess. Everyone is different. But I couldn't possibly justify it. It's very pretty, but it's impractical (you need separate transportation to the venue and then the carriage just takes you around a loop once you get there) and it's over in a flash.

You do you! Really, I'm glad you guys stuck with it because it's no one else's choice or business about what day you pick. I liked that I didn't have to wait so long for our first look and ceremony with a morning wedding.

Thanks! I think it was a good choice for us! And morning weddings definitely have their perks. We also gained an hour crossing the border, so it felt an hour later than it actually was, which helped a little.

We had quite a mess with Disney Catered Events for our dessert party. They did waive some charges, but we were in a spot where at the beginning of September we didn't even know if everything planned for our dessert party was happening. It was really stressful... and after, they didn't acknowledge to us that they waived things, or say much after the fact, I just saw it on our BEO. They didn't say anything to me about social media, so I'll have a little detail in my TR about it.

Oh no!! That sounds so frustrating and scary! I'll be tuning in for this story.

That's very silly... really, if you'd been planning to eat it somewhere else, you probably wouldn't have done photos there since your cake needed special handling... you would think they would think about that, knowing it was an allergy cake and had to be set up DURING your ceremony

That's what I thought! And we'd already talked about it on the phone a couple weeks prior, so I was surprised when she said those things again at the actual ceremony day.

This is us, except 2.5 months later

Yay! I'm so happy to hear this!

We stayed in our original budget (would have been slightly over without those things getting waived) but it would have been so much harder at home with a big wedding. And arguments over whether people would/should help put chairs away (this is a thing that happened in my life). And getting worked up over some little detail I didn't actually care about. And false promises of money to help. And people pushing to skip any type of wedding for a cheap Vegas wedding. These are all things that happened in my life - ahhhhhhh! Anyways, we also had drama which was mostly non-wedding related but affecting the wedding. I'm so happy with what we did. We paid for everything ourselves except the cruise, which was a gift from Zack's parents. I wish I had stuck to that when people were falsely promising money early on... just us pay, and they could give a cash gift if they wanted. Oh well. It was perfect, small and intimate, and the important people were there, and they were truly happy for us. And then we spent time in the parks with everyone

Wow!! Some crazy stuff! It's amazing the drama that can come out of weddings. I'm so glad everything worked out the right way for you in the end!

 

[Raeven]

Amanda snapped one I'd been hoping for which showed off our magic band decals (something blue!)

Aw this is so cute.

Once photos were taken and everyone was satisfied, I made a nosedive for my cake! Attempt #3!

I can only imagine how frustrating it was to not get to sit down and eat the cake! I was getting frustrated for you reading this

There was also a weird thing about our room block and free night that ended up being like this, and it ended up that they made me feel like they were doing me a favour for something that I knew other brides had done that didn't conflict with any rules, etc., but I can't speak to any details because I was asked explicitly not to discuss it on any social media platforms...it was just weird.

That sounds weird!

We didn't mind not having an official "reception" included, and the guest list size and location was exactly what we needed.

Is an official reception not included in the package? Or is it just a matter of choosing that or something else?

100% good choice for us. 3.5 months later, I still look back on it as one of the best things that we've ever done, and I think it will really stand the test of time as one of the best moments of our lives.

I'm so glad you had an amazing wedding!

 

[MeghanEmily]

Um.... I think that part should remain private between the bride and groom, but maybe I'm just old fashioned.

Again? I already told you this should be between just the two of you! Does N know?

Haha oops!

Finally! Cake! You get to eat.... oh.

Yeah....if only...

Hells Bells, ACDC.

That means he's getting married next, no?

Must be! I'll tell him to get on that...

"Woman gets concussed and then gets engaged to EMT."


It could so, happen.

Ooh good story! My wedding could have been on the news!

Like those. Like the macro effect she used. Clever.

I thought so, too!

Hey! Love those! Did you get a lot of comments on them?

I loved them too, and they were pretty inexpensive from a shop on Etsy. We got comments from cast members once in a while, especially when we had to tap Mickey to Mickey.

Plus only eating (a little) sugar.

I'm sure that didn't help. A little protein would have gone a long way, I'm sure... I had a cliff bar, but it wasn't enough.

No. You are 100% right here.
I've only shot two weddings, but... The bride never looks the same on any other day. Brides glow.
One my first shoot, (pre-digital) I shot a double exposure of the couple and their home (where the wedding was). They loved it, but... it wasn't quite perfect (something that's very hard to do when you're essentially just guessing where everything is.) So they asked me to reshoot it the following week.

Yeah.... it was a complete failure. Looked very forced, totally different feel to it.


Ya done good.

That sounds like a beautiful shot! But I'm not surprised about the issues with the reshoot...totally makes sense!

 

[pkondz]

Haha oops!

Must be! I'll tell him to get on that...

lemme know how that goes!

Ooh good story! My wedding could have been on the news!

and yet another keepsake!

I thought so, too!

I showed DW and she was "Save that! So you can do it next time."

I had a cliff bar, but it wasn't enough.

Nope.

 

[MeghanEmily]

Your rings are stunning.
Love all the pics

Thank you!!

Oh man, someone was cutting onions during your explanation of the best man's speech and backstory. Thanks for including those special little touches that made the ceremony even more beautiful. (The one of your grandmother still warms my heart.)

I couldn't help but laugh at the constant attempts to eat cake. The bride and groom are kept so busy during the wedding that they barely get to enjoy the actual event!

Mickey and Minnie looked so dapper next to ya'll.

Unfortunately, I'm not surprised some family members wanted non-character photos...

Sorry after the ceremony was a little rough. That early morning, two park visits, ceremony, stress over the guests, stress over everything going correctly, hustle and bustle, and that heat had to make for a long, long morning!

Yeah, I may have gotten a little misty, myself, thinking about Brad and his toast.

The cake was so tasty, too, and we were hungry! Sad day. It seems like this is the norm with brides and grooms...not having any time to eat/drink/enjoy...

Mickey and Minnie were such a highlight! They looked fabulous, and they were so excited and cute with us!

I'm not really surprised either about the photos. And I understand it. People have a certain expectation of what will happen at weddings. And I'm glad to have all the photos...but it came at a sacrifice!

You're right, there were lots of variables that led to the inevitable crash. The heat, and the early morning both contributing significantly. I don't do well with little sleep. It's just a thing that I've accepted about myself, and I typically try to sleep 7-8 hours on a normal night. (Lord help me if we ever decide to have kids!! ) But the sacrifice was worth it for one day.

yeah! I hope you love Jiko!!!! Its one of our absolute favorites. And definitely do hoop dee doo if you can, I know you'd love it!

I'm sure we'll love it! With my dietary restrictions I won't be able to enjoy some of the typical favourites there, but I have no doubt they'll still be able to make me something wonderful. And I know Nathan (who can eat anything and everything! ) will love it, too. We've got it booked now! And I also just booked and pre-paid our Hoop Dee Doo ADR! Really excited to see it for the first time. People seem to have so much fun there. I just booked category 3 seating because I didn't want to spring for Cat. 1, and I've heard that sometimes cat. 2 is actually worse than cat. 3 depending on your preference. Since we're just two adults I'm sure we'll be fine to enjoy from the balcony.

The cake looks awesome!!!!! What a great idea to have both cake and cupcakes. Seems much easier than cutting two cakes.

It was excellent!! I loved the cupcakes because we didn't spend time cutting cake—people could just choose the flavour they wanted and snatch it.

Love this. Though you should have gotten them some of the bubble blasters they sell for kids in the park. Now that would have been a LOT of bubbles

Ooooh, now that would have been an idea!! My cousin would have loved that...and probably some of the adults would have, too.

This is amazing. Did you know this was going to happen?

It was an awesome moment! We did know they were coming (and we paid a pretty penny to have them! ) but we hadn't told all our guests so some of them were surprised.

These are great. Side note, if you ever have kids one day one of my favorite pictures when Casey was born was of our wedding rings hanging from her toes

Oh, I'm making a note of this for if we have kids! That's awesome! We haven't decided about kids yet, but adorable things like this pull at my heart strings and provoke that maternal instinct!

I can only imagine how frustrating it was to not get to sit down and eat the cake! I was getting frustrated for you reading this

Ugh it was so tempting and we kept getting dragged away! Very frustrating. I knew it was probably going to be like that, but I was determined to be the bride who actually gets to eat at their wedding! Not so much.

Is an official reception not included in the package? Or is it just a matter of choosing that or something else?

Nope, a reception isn't included in the package. If you want to add one, your coordinator can help you set one up with Disney Catered Events, or whatever it's called, at an extra cost. A lot of people do this, but we decided that we'd just book a dinner ADR for all our guests that night and provide them with a meal that way. It worked super well for us, and nobody seemed too concerned that we did it that way. But if you wanted something more private, or wanted a chance to have dancing, speeches, etc., then you'd definitely need to book an event. For our Boma ADR, we weren't even guaranteed to be able to be seated together, though they told us they'd try to keep us all as close together as possible. But then when they got there they had us all at one giant table, which was perfect.

I'm so glad you had an amazing wedding!

Thank you! It was pretty great.

 

[missangelalexis]

Ahh such cute pics with Mickey & Minnie!!

I'm sorry everything felt sorta rushed and that you had to take MORE pictures without the mice due to family requests. All the pics came out so lovely though.

Overall it sounds like you are happy with your decisions and how everything went! Of course there was bound to be some hiccups, but I'm glad you can look back on everything and be satisfied.

The photo mat came out so cute! We did that one year, it definitely is a pain to carry around but looks like it was worth it!