**Disney Wedding Trip Reports**

faeriegrl said:
Here is our trip report from 12/4/2005

WOW! Brittany the photos in your sig are just AMAZING!
 
Well I have so enjoyed reading everyone else's wedding trip reports, I am so happy to finally get a chance to add my own!!

Trip & Honeymoon: April 20th - May 1st
My wedding: April 24th, 2006
Welcome party : Fantasmic! Dessert Party, MGM
Ceremony Location: Italy Isola, Epcot
Pre-reception & Reception: Martha's Vineyard & Ariel's (Beach Club)

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1106848


-mary :)

party:
 
My Fairy Tale Wedding & Disneymoon Recap!

Wedding

June 7 (Wed.)- Arrive to Florida! :sunny: :beach:

June 8 (Thurs.)- Get FL marriage license, Shopping at Downtown Disney, Checking into the Polynesian Resort, Pre-Wedding Dinner at 1900 Park Fare with wedding guests at the Grand Floridian with Cinderella and Prince Charming :earsgirl: princess:

June 9 (Fri.)- My Wedding Day at Sea Breeze Point! :bride:
- 8:00am- Steaming dress, Hair & Make-Up arrives
- 10:00am- Limo arrives to pick up first group of
guests at the Polynesian
- 10:30am- Limo pick up for my groom & his family
- 10:45am- Me & my family picked up in the limo!
- 11:00am- Arrived to The Boardwalk Inn for my
wedding at Sea Breeze Point
- 11:30am-1:00pm- Wedding, Reception, & Photos
- 2:30pm- Gown steaming for dress & tux for our
Magic Kingdom photo session the next day
- 5:30pm- Dinner hosted by my parents at 'OHANA
at Polynesian :stitch2:

June 10 (Sat.)- Magic Kingdom portrait session at 5:00am
We were up at 3:45am!! :tink:
- Our first romantic dinner as Mr. & Mrs. at San Angel
Inn in Mexio at EPCOT for dinner

Honeymoon


June 11
(Sun.)- Disney-MGM Studies for Star Wars Weekend!
Dinner at Hollywood & Vine :darth: :yoda: :chewy:

June 12 (Mon.)- Dolphins in Depth Tour at EPCOT at 9:45am
(3 hours) :fish:
Dinner at The Garden Grill with Mickey &
friends ::MickeyMo

June 13 (Tues.)- Restaurantosaurus for breakfast with Donald
& friends :donald:
Animal Kingdom

June 14 (Wed.)- Magic Kingdom :smickey:
Dinner at BOMA at Animal Kingdom Lodge

June 15 (Thurs.)- Magic Kingdom :dumbo: :hmghost:


June 16 (Fri.)- Back to NC :sad1:
 


We are really wanting to get married in the wedding pavilion. but we have only been to disney once. We loved it thats why we want to do this, but Im worried that I wont be able to cope with organising this,

A. because Im in the uk, thousands of miles away, and
B. because I dont have much experience of disney.

Everyone who has told there storys seems to have been to disney many times. Im very worried. Has anyone ever done this before? any tips? Im desperate xxx
 


We are really wanting to get married in the wedding pavilion. but we have only been to disney once. We loved it thats why we want to do this, but Im worried that I wont be able to cope with organising this,

A. because Im in the uk, thousands of miles away, and
B. because I dont have much experience of disney.

Everyone who has told there storys seems to have been to disney many times. Im very worried. Has anyone ever done this before? any tips? Im desperate xxx

I'm in the UK too - and have only been to Disney once, but don't worry - it seems pretty foolproof! :) I am so excited - when do you have planned? :)
 
Im new to this board (member at wdwmagic) but I thought I would post my unique disney wedding story..(SURPRISE WEDDING!)
....sorry dont have a link and dont want to type it all over again...but here it is copied an pasted...if photo links dont work any longer...sorry...I will try to post some pics later.

Sorry in advance for such a long post but thought you might enjoy:

Our Magical Wedding

I thought it would be easier to write down what a magical week we had for our special wedding. Although words or even picture and video will never quite capture all of the magic I hope I can give you some feeling for what transpired leading up to, during and after our wedding.

Andrea & I have been truly blessed in so many ways and our wedding was just one more way that showed the blessings that God has bestowed upon us.

Many now ask how and when we came up with the idea of a surprise wedding. Well there was no single moment that we can pick out. We always knew that one of our families would have to travel if we got married as they live in several areas, mostly New York and the Washington D.C. area. We had always held two places in our heart where we would love to have our "Dream" wedding. New York City at St. Patrick's Cathedral and reception at Tavern on the Green or at Walt Disney World (WDW). Our first thought as to a date were originally in July as this is the anniversary of both our parents. (The best examples of love we know.)

The thoughts of a hot July day in New York or Florida were a bit more than we could handle. So on one of our many visits to WDW we started to think how much there was to offer in our favorite place in the world. Family is so important to us and we wanted to make this not only our special day but a way for our families to be together, get to know one another and have a great time.

A visit to Orlando in Jan.06 really started our first ideas of pulling off a surprise wedding. We thought what better cover we will ever have than my 40th birthday in December. It would be close to Christmas (such a beautiful time in Disney) and an opportunity to get our families together. We played with the idea of an outside wedding at WDW but my wife was smart enough to talk me out of that because of the stress of weather related problems not to mention Disney has the most beautiful Wedding Pavilion right on Bay Lake looking toward Cinderella's castle. About six months out we put the plans into action. We reserved a spot at the Wedding Pavilion for December 16th 2006 at 7:30pm, just 2 days before my actual birthday. We spoke on the phone and had several email correspondences with some Disney wedding coordinators and then set a meeting up with them in early September.

Our first visit in September was a chance to meet a wedding coordinator in person, select a reception location, chose flowers, a cake (with samples to test ) decorations and all the other magic that only Disney could offer. We also met Reverend Jack Day for the first time, who would perform our ceremony. He was highly recommended from all and has done weddings on Regis & Kathy Lee as well as Lifetime Weddings. Incredibly in one visit, although 1/2 days worth, we decided probably 80% of the wedding details. Of course after getting home we made some small changes but with the help of the Disney experts everything was coming together.

Now we had to convince our families to come to WDW a week before Christmas to attend a surprise black-tie 40th birthday party and still not let them in on too much as to spoil the surprise. We made our own tuxedo style invitations and told our families that accommodations had been arranged and that we only needed to know how many days they planned to stay. This was actually not too much of a stretch as we are DVC members and have invited family to WDW before. But little did they know to what extent we were actually going to, to pull off this surprise.

As RSVP's began to roll in only a few family members were holding out and we started to contemplate having to tell some to get them to come. But my wonderful bride to-be did a great job convincing those that were leaning the other way. And some of them were not easy including both fathers! We waited until the final days to finally have to tell just a couple of family members but swore them to secrecy.

We worked closely with our WDW wedding coordinator to make sure that everything would say birthday celebration and that there was no mention of wedding as not to have anyone slip up. One of the additional surprises for our families was we made all the resort reservations and chose the theme of the resort based on the likes, hobbies, personalities of our family members. As examples one sister and her family love the islands and beaches so they were to stay at Caribbean Beach Resort. And a brother and his family that love the outdoors, etc, were to stay at the Wilderness Lodge. We sent out packages to everyone the week they were leaving that had lanyards with a pin from the resort where they were staying and brochure information. They were told not to open their packages until they were in flight to Orlando. And it seems they followed the rules and were very excited when they found out all the different places they were staying.

Andrea and I had checked in Thursday Dec. 14th. I had surprised Andrea where we were going to stay. We stayed in a once in a lifetime suite at the Contemporary. We both had always wanted to stay there since we were kids and took that first monorail ride through the hotel. But for our first experience what more could we have asked for, we were in the Vice Presidential Suite. It was as large as our two townhomes! It had 4 bathrooms, a living room with a huge flat screen TV (4 TV's total) a full size dining room with a bar, 2 bedrooms and even its own Christmas tree. We also had 4 sliding doors that lead to 2 huge balconies. Since we were on the 14th floor what views we had of bay lake! This suite was part of the concierge level with its own concierge lounge where they served food and drinks throughout the day and night. The concierge level also has a huge balcony that has everyones dream view right into the Magic Kingdom toward Cinderella's castle and Space Mountain. The concierge outside our door was there to get our every need.

The excitement and nervousness was building as we approached Friday and Saturday (wedding day). Our first guest were to arrive Friday late afternoon and evening and the rest early Saturday morning.

Our only possible big slip up came up right when our first guest arrived for check in at their resort. But God in his wisdom helped us avoid a huge mistake in spoiling the surprise that we had worked so hard for 6 months to keep. We had not planned to pick up the father of the bride and his wife from the airport but something made Andrea decide to go pick up her father and take them to the Grand Floridian for concierge check-in. Luckily when she helped them check in they were distracted by all the happening in the resort so they didn't hear when the concierge said "So you're here for the wedding!" At that point Andrea nearly died and quickly said "No its a birthday!" Once they were checked in she called me choking back the tears to tell me what had happened. We had a true emergency on our hands as we had everyone else checking in later that evening and the next morning but in 7 different resorts! She took care of the issue at the GF as my parents were also to check in there the next day. I hopped in our rental car and went to each resort to speak with a manager to make sure they deleted from their computer any mention of wedding and to put a warning that they were not to tell the guest anything. Once I relayed the entire story to each manager they all apologized and things were taken care of, now we just prayed that there would be no other slip-ups prior to the big event.
Saturday December 16th, 2006 a day that will always be Magical!
Again another night of very little sleep as the anticipation was building. I had to go to the airport to pick up one of my nieces, Michelle and her husband Rich from Oregon. They were one of the few who knew the real story. No one else in the family knew they were coming for "The Birthday". We had to get them from the airport before their parents and the rest of the family arrived at the airport and spoiled another one of the surprises. Once I got them checked in it was off to get nails done and last minute things. Since our suite at the Contemporary was so large I was able to take one wing and bedroom and my lovely bride to-be the other to get ready that afternoon without seeing each other. She had always dreamed of having her favorite movies like While You Were Sleeping and When Harry met Sally playing in the background as she got ready for her big day and with 4 TV's and DVD players her dream came true. At 2:00 that afternoon she decided to tell her only sister the real story. She invited her over to help get ready and to help decorate for the birthday party. When she arrived Andrea took her out on the concierge balcony overlooking the Magic Kingdom and the Wedding Pavilion. I was hiding on the other side of the glass siding doors taking pictures as she told her sister we had just become engaged the night before, showing her the ring and then after a huge scream,a ton of hugs and tears, then watching her tell her that it was not going to be birthday party that night but that it was a wedding over at the wedding pavilion. More hugs, more tears and then she told her to turn around, where she saw me snapping pictures. If this was the reaction we were going to get from everyone, boy were we in for an unbelievable night.

A hair and makeup person came to the room to get my bride ready and I relaxed (not really) and had a couple of beers and watched movies before I had to get ready myself.

I left for the wedding pavilion around 6pm to meet our officiant Rev. Jack and our wedding coordinator. I watched as they finished another wedding, took down their flowers, etc and then got the pavilion ready for our wedding. What an operation to watch. All the cast members with Disney weddings were amazing, they had their walkie talkies and ear pieces in place ready to pull off our big night.
The start of the Big Surprise.
We had chartered a Disney Cruise line bus to start picking up our guest at the Grand Floridian where our parents were first to board. We also had 2 friends and their teenage children on board who knew about the surprise and were there to make sure everyone was aboard. The videographer and our English Butler (Winthrop) were also on board to greet our guest and ask them to give a birthday wish on camera. Our friends also handed out buttons that were made with pictures of me growing up (still trying to throw off any suspicions!). The bus then began its journey around Disney picking up our other guest at each of the resorts we had selected for them. On the third stop my brother Paul and his wife boarded, the first of many surprises that night. My parents didn't know they were coming so the tears had begun. Several stops later my niece and her husband from Oregon got on and they were a surprise to everyone. The final stop before heading to the pavilion was picking up my brother Jim his wife and daughter. When they got on board and saw their other daughter from Oregon, of course the tears were doubled.

Then Winthrop got everyones attention and began to read a poem that my lovely bride had written...with some smiles, giggles and laughs to begin, little did they know what they were in for. The poem ended this way....
"In this world of magical wishes where dreams really do come true"
"My friends, this is not so much a surprise for Phillip as it is a surprise for you"
At this point the gasps had begun! The poem continued...
"On behalf of the Walt Disney World Resorts and Andrea Veronica Mench and Phillip Clayton Nixon I cordially invite you to their wedding!"
That was it...screaming, crying, hugs, laughter and cheers had begun...having seen the rough cut video it was something to behold. The bus then arrived at the Wedding Pavilion.

All this time I had been waiting in the grooms waiting room all by myself going crazy wondering what was happening. Finally our wedding coordinator Michelle Wenzler came in and told me the bus has erupted in joy and that they were on the way. My bride and her sister had been listening in on a cell phone that was on a open line from our friends that were on the bus, so they were able to join in on the excitement.

When our families arrived, my 2 brothers, my sister and my mother and father were ushered into my room to see me. The tears and laughter started, I asked them to be my best men and maid of honor. At the same time my brides family had gone to see her in the brides vestibule and the same reaction was happening over there. She also asked her brother and sister to be our other best man and matron of honor. After a few minutes to decompress and gain our composure we still had a wedding to do!

Even though we had planned a small elegant wedding our families were abuzz with excitement and they cheered as I entered to walk my parents down the aisle and continued when my bride and her father entered as well. With all the excitement it was more like an elegant tailgate party, but we couldn't have been happier.

Reverend Jack Day was just perfect, the music was beautiful as well as the flowers and pavilion. What more could we have asked for. With the ceremony over we were ushered out and our guest lined up on the bridge leading to the pavilion. We walked halfway across the bridge and stopped and turned back toward the pavilion and began a LOOONG kiss. Fireworks then exploded for several minutes as we held that pose and our families were mesmerized. Luckily its all on video because we missed half the fireworks while posing!

Then we exited through a cascade of rose petals thrown by our families and entered Cinderella's carriage for a farewell ride to our reception at the Whitehall Room & patio at the Grand Floridian. We were also blessed to have timed our carriage ride to the GF as the Magic Kingdom (Wishes) fireworks were going off above the castle. As our little white ponies slowly moved along, people came out of the resort to take pictures and little girls chased our carriage to see the princess...we were our own little parade as we waved. The Whitehall Room & patio is wonderful for a small gathering, we had about 40 people. It's a small octagon shaped room on the end of the GF convention area. It also has an outdoor patio that looks toward the Magic Kingdom and Cindy's castle, with the monorail passing overhead. The pre-reception was held outside on the patio.

The Whitehall room was beautiful at night. We had done everything in whites, silver, white flowers with greenery and lots of candles and twinkling lights. (The lights were dimmed and the room was beautiful) The ceiling had tulle draped from the center with lights and ficus trees with lights surrounded the room. We had a sweetheart table at one end, the dance floor in the center and 2, 10 seat tables on both sides of the dance floor. The DJ was at the other end of the room from us and our beautiful white and silver "Mickey Wave" cake topped off with a white and silver chocolate castle was off to the side surrounded by candles. All of it was truly breathtaking and everything we had dreamed about.

We had a wonderful appetizer followed by a salad, then they turned down the lights even more and several waiters all at once brought out ice sculptured glass slippers lit from underneath with green and red lights and topped with a rasberry sorbet. (To the music of the electrical light parade). Then the main course of surf and turf!. Wow what a meal. We then smashed a little cake in each others faces and the party began.

Our DJ was great, we had crazy hat dances and the best time of all...all to end too quickly. We did go over a little till about quater to 1am. Then most of our families (minus the parents) came back to our "rock-star" suite at the Contemporary to finish the party till 2:30am!

We cant say enough about how blessed we are to have had such a perfect wedding; the entire staff of Disney World was perfect and not only did a wonderful job but really joined in on the excitement and fun. We had so many of them come over to us and tell us it was the best wedding they had ever done.

The next day(12/17/06) we had most of our guest still in town so we had planned a day at EPCOT with a late lunch in Japan (Teppanyaki Dining Room/we took up an entire room) and then the Candlelight Processional at 5:30pm (with Kirk Cameron as the reader of the Christmas story). We also hopped over to MGM to see the Osbourne Lights and finished off the night at the Magic Kingdom as it was open until 1am! Another magical day and night!


THANK YOU FOR INDULGING ME WITH SUCH A LONG POST AND TO TELL YOU ABOUT OUR MAGICAL WEDDING. We enjoyed several more magical filled days at WDW and a quick 4 day WDW cruise but I think my post was long enough!

__________________
 
fantastic! your description of the bus journey when everyone found out about the surprise brought tears to my eyes!
please please please post some photos
 
Teenchy, your post also made me all teary-eyed this morning - what a wonderful story! Thanks for sharing...and yes, I would love to see some photos also.
 
Tomorrow will be our two year anniversary, so to celebrate I here's my trip report and pictures....

Just reading this report brings back so many happy and wonderful moments from that day. :cloud9:



The Proposal…

Charlie and I had been talking about getting married for a couple of years. We’d talk about it, then nothing would happen. It would go on the back burner. Until….the morning after a really great Kenny Chesney concert….I’m still in my “post-Kenny haze” and Charlie says to me “I think we should get married.” My reaction…”Get the heck outta here!” I really thought he was teasing me. But, ummm, no. He handed me a little navy blue velvet box….

Ring.jpg



How We Ended Up Getting Hitched At the Wilderness Lodge…

Ladies, my advice….enjoy the process. It goes by so quickly, and afterwards, you’ll miss it so much! Never in your life will you feel so special! I felt like a fairy-tale princess for real.

Charlie and I both wanted something unique, so we decided to get married on a cruise in Alaska. (I was thinking…How far away from the MIL can we get????) So we started working on that in September of 2004. Coincidentally, we had a WDW trip planned in the middle of September. We were staying at the Wilderness Lodge. I’ve always wanted to go there since the day it was built! I couldn’t wait. But…I had to. I can’t remember their names but there were TWO hurricanes working their way thru Florida. So for the last couple of days before we were scheduled to leave, we kept checking the official site and checking our airlines. We ended up delaying the trip one day. Which, of course, killed me. (Well, not literally.)

We spent the first night of our vacation at Pop Century. Then we took a taxi to the WL at about 6:30am. OMG! We both fell in love with the place the minute walked in the door! We spent the next several days talking about how fabulous the WL was. One day, walking thru the lobby I said “Hey, you know, I think we can get married here.” Charlie said “Let’s do it”. The rest, as they say was history.

Getting Ready….(AKA I’m the Cheapest Bride In History)

You know, you think you know EXACTLY what kind of dress you want….until you start trying them on. What you like and what looks good on you aren’t necessary the same thing. I went to several bridal shops and nothing thrilled me. I finally ended up at the local David’s Bridal. I found one I “kind of” liked. It was $900.00 and quite frankly I thought that was WAY too much for a dress I was going to wear once. I know some of you are paying a lot more, but well, to each their own. I don’t judge. So before I really really really decided on this dress, I took Charlie up to David’s Bridal. He wanted me in something “big and white and fluffy”. OK, so I told the clerk, or assistant, or whatever they are called. “Bring me your biggest, whitest, fluffiest number!”

OMG she did! She was great! This dress was right out of a bad 80’s music video. It was SO HUGE it needed it’s own zip code!

So, first I try on a couple of “maybe” dresses. Charlie like them well enough. Then I come out in this…..this….THING. It was SO over the top, it had beads and buttons and lace and embroidery and layers and roses and ruffles and a HUGE mother of a bow on the BUTT! ON the BUTT! WHY on earth would I want to draw attention to my rear end??? Well, anyway, the look on his face was…well, priceless. I don’t think he knew how to react. Afraid I might love it, he didn’t want to say it was awful. If I thought it was awful, well, he couldn’t possibly have loved it. But once the clerk and I started laughing he knew the gig was up! I have to say, even though it was against tradition, it was a lot of fun taking him gown shopping. Everyone was shocked to see him in the bridal salon, but many of them said “What a good idea!”

I decided I guess I will just get the dress I “kind of” liked. (No, not THAT one!) I drove up to David’s Bridal to try it on one more time. On the way back I thought “I should look on E-bay.” What the heck. You can pretty much buy anything there. I bet they have a couple of wedding gowns.

Well, surprise surprise! They have zillions of wedding gowns! So I sort by size and a couple of particulars….and there is it…..MY DRESS.

So I bid on it. Only nine days to go. I watch this dress. I check it hourly. I talk to it on the screen. I will it to be mine! Days go by. We’re into the home stretch. Then…somebody bids against me! GRRRRRRRRR! We get into a bidding war. OK, she bid against me twice, and moved on. Phew. I stay up late, the bidding ends at midnight. And….and….Victory! I have my dress. THE dress. The dress of my dreams! For only…..$116.00.

Yes, ladies, the wedding gown of my dreams cost me $116.00. Including shipping.

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Since I did so well on E-bay, I start shopping. Veil: $30.00 Crinoline: $40.00

Then it’s off to the mall for shoes. I want white, I want comfortable, I want inexpensive. I get…Payless, on sale…..$6.00. Yes, I paid $6.00 for my wedding shoes. And they were prefect.

BTW, I shipped my gown via UPS to Carolyn’s Bridal a week before we arrived. They brought it over to the WL and steamed and pressed it. Carolyn herself did it and she did a wonderful job. :thumbsup2

Planning the Ceremony
Brides, let me put your minds at ease about something. The WDW Wedding Coordinators plan weddings for a living. That means they do it day in and day out, every day. Plan plan plan. Now, for you and I, our wedding is a special event, a fabulous occasion, a day to remember, that has to be prefect. And they know this. But the fact that they do this every day makes them skilled experts at what they do. So…RELAX. They do a FABULOUS job! It’s what they do, every day.

We had Jennifer O’Leary. She was EXCELLENT! :thumbsup2 She handled every detail and every special request professionally and respectfully. She always got us (OK, me) answers, always got back to me either by email or phone. She was great!

We had Ron Rosenzweig as our Officiant. He was great during planning, made suggestions and had ideas. And was absolutely charming during the ceremony! :goodvibes We liked him a lot!

We had a special request for a Grapefruit wedding cake, since we LOVE LOVE LOVE the Grapefruit cake at The Brown Derby. Jennifer spoke to the Pastry Chef at the WL and he said “No problem”. She told us it would be an extra charge, and we agreed to it, but they never charged us.

I wish I had the name of our photographer because he was most gracious and very cooperative. We asked him for pictures on the walkway to the marina and also by the geyser. To his credit, he got soaked and we got our pictures.

TR001676-0068.jpg


I also didn’t get the name of the violin player. He was great and a lot of fun. Plus he played all sorts of things we asked on the fly. He was very talented!


Arrival Day (Or…There’s no Turning Back Now! Actually, There Is)
We had a very early morning flight so we had to leave the house at 3:00am. We pulled out of the driveway giddy with excitement then realized we forgot something. I don’t remember exactly what it was but I know it was mission critical. So we turned around and went back. Then we left again, got out to the road, and realized we had forgotten something else. So we went back again. And yes, then we realized YET AGAIN that we forgot something. Yes, THREE times we had to go back.

But then, finally, we were off.

The flight down went off without a hitch. But, just to back up a little…..

I had arranged to have the white stretch limo that came with the Intimate Wedding pick us up at the airport and take us to the WL. I had secretly booked the Richard Petty Driving Experience for Charlie as a wedding gift. I made plans for the limo to take us to the WL, we would check-in, grab a bite, then take the limo to the track.

Those were my plans anyway.

Except when we got to the airport, no limo. :eek: So we waited a while but it didn’t show. So I called Mears (Thank goodness I had the direct number!) They said “Oh yes, we see your reservation but it’s for next Sunday.” I was trying not to panic so I calmly sent Charlie to look for our bags while I explained to Mears why I needed that limo and why I need it now. To their credit, it was there in 30 minutes. We had this really great lady driver who was totally on to my plans to surprise Charlie with RPDE. She was so great!

But in the limo, he fell asleep. He was exhausted from getting up at 2:00am. I was tired too but the secret excitement I knew about that he didn’t kept me wide awake. Plus, hey, how many times in your life do you get to travel in a white stretch limo?? :yay:

So we got to the WL and checked in and left our bags and went to Roaring Forks. We got a little breakfast and Charlie grabbed a beer. Now, normally he would never drink this early in the day, but having gotten up at 2, technically it was the middle of the day. Plus we were on vacation. Under any other circumstances I would never have done this but I took the beer off his tray and put it back. I said “That’s very un-Disneylike, so early in the morning!”. I felt bad but he couldn’t drink and drive a NASCAR car!

So we had our breakfast and wandered back up to the lobby, then he saw the limo was still outside. Conveniently, he suggested we take it for a ride, since we still have it for a couple more hours. “Gee, honey, what a good idea!” The driver and I were smiling and trying our best to hide it. This was so much fun! So off we go, when she says “Oh I think the Richard Petty track is around here. Would you like to see it?” So Charlie says “Yes, let’s check it out” then he goes on and on about how someday he’d love to do this and maybe next time we come to WDW, blah blah blah. Meantime, I’m DYING with excitement!!

So she parks the limo and we get out and walk around the showroom. They have racing merchandise for sale and a demo car you can check out. Charlie has his head stuck in the demo car, looking at the gauges and stuff, and when he pulled his head out and stood up, I handed him the certificate.

It took a few minutes to register….

Then the BIGGEST SMILE YOU HAVE EVER SEEN! I am getting goosebumps just typing this. I swear it is one of the GREATEST THINGS I have ever done! He was soooo incredibly thrilled! :yay:

So they suited him up, he took the little training class and off he went!

TR202.jpg


OMG it was so exciting! Worth every cent! When he got out of the car he had a smile a mile wide! He was so excited he kept talking on and on about how great it was. He called everyone back home to tell them “You’ll never guess what I just did!” It was great, just really great!

Then we went back to the WL and checked into our room. What had we been up by that time? About 97 hours? It felt like it.

We went up to our room and opened the door and….ewww! Our room smelled like dirty sneakers! A strong disgusting smell! I thought “Oh no! My gown will have to be in here for four days and it will stink by our wedding day!” :headache: So I went to the balcony to open the slider and ewwwwwww! We were right over a smoke house or something that smelled so gross!

I called down to the desk and asked if we could move. They told me there were no other rooms and to try in the morning. So we spent one night in that stinky room.


A Few Days at WDW Before our Wedding (Or…How To Exhaust Your Fiancé So He Can’t Run Away)

The next morning we went down to the front desk and asked them if anything was available. They said yes a room was available but we’d have to pack up now then wait until later in the day to check-in to our new room. A pain, to be sure, but we did it.

We went off to D/MGM for the day, then came back and moved into our new room.

The next couple of days were a whirlwind of parks. We had great fun, as usual. I love Disney World. It’s my absolute favorite place!

Wednesday night we went to the California Grill for dinner. After a day in EPCOT we were pooped, but we wanted a special dinner the night before our wedding. And we got it. We told the waitress we were getting married in the morning and she sure took good care of us! She did so many things to make it special. She was very sweet!

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The Actual Ceremony (Or…OMG It’s TIME!)

Thursday morning, June 9, 2005 – The alarm goes off at 4:30am. I have Disney Cosmetology coming at 5:30am. Two lovely ladies come by to get me gussied up.

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Charlie goes down to the pool for a sunrise swim. He had the pool all to himself and enjoyed it immensely. What a way to start your wedding day, don’t you think??

The cosmetology ladies leave, and I sit and read the newspaper while he gets ready.

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Then Jennifer arrives. She takes Charlie down to meet Ron. I start to get dressed. Not an easy task with a dress this size and a crinoline and wearing a veil! But I manage. Until….I have to zip it up. And I can’t. So I wait for Jennifer to return. But she doesn’t. I start to panic. :scared: It’s getting late. So, I open the door. There is a man standing at the elevators. He looks normal. I ask him…”Umm, excuse me? Could I ask you a favor?” “Sure” he says. “Umm, could you zip me up?” “Oh sure, no problem”. So he does and I say I hope I’m not keeping you and he tells me his wife and kids are waiting downstairs but it’s OK because now he has a great story to tell them about why he’s taking so long! So, wherever you are, sir….Thank you! :thumbsup2

OK, now I’m ready. And now, of course, Jennifer shows up. We laugh about Mr. Zipper and we get talking. I tell her about the first room we had and she tells me to write to the WL and to DFTW and let them know. Also, I express my disappointment that although all our friends and family sent champagne and strawberries and cookies and such, we got nothing at all from the WL. Something would have been nice. Anything. So she tells me to let them know that too.

Meantime….realize it’s getting late. Unbeknownst to me, Charlie is starting to panic. :scared1: He thinks I’ve changed my mind. Suddenly Jennifer and I realize it’s after 9:00! We rush off. Well, as much as you can rush in a cathedral length gown.

I meet Ron in the hallway and he’s absolutely charming! He makes me laugh and relax. OK, he makes me laugh. Nothing can make me relax.

We have a beautiful ceremony on the balcony, overlooking the lake. I loved it. It was perfect!

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And suddenly, just like that….I’m married to Prince Charming! :cloud9:

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Afterwards we have our Grapefruit cake, and we all chat and laugh….then Stan comes by with a tour group! We invite them for cake, but they politely decline. Jennifer gives us our certificate and surprise gifts. We are delighted! And heady with the best damn cake on the planet and delicious champagne, we head out for photos.

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Ladies, let me tell you, if you ever want to feel like a princess, put on a wedding gown and walk thru a Disney resort lobby. Everyone was stopping to watch and congratulating us. OMG it was great fun! We took some pictures in the lobby then went outside. We had so much fun and I think the pictures were great!

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We found Stan again, this time without his group. We asked him for a picture. He was so flattered!

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After the ceremony, we changed, relaxed for a while, then headed out to the MK. What could be better then that!

That night we went to Hoop De Do. They sat us in the very front table, center stage. We had mentioned to the waitress that we were just married this morning. So, naturally, she had to tell everyone! All night they kept stopping the show and one of the cast members on stage would say “THIS MORNING?” or “What are you doing HERE???” It was hysterical and so much fun!


In Conclusion…(Or, I can’t believe you read this far! Thank you so much!)

I couldn’t have been happier with our choice to get married at WDW. Everything went great and the few little glitches we had were taken care of right away.

To the WL credit, we did send them a letter afterwards, and they gave us a one night refund and apologized for not living up to our expectations. I thought that was VERY generous of them!

The Mears people were great. It was a simple mix-up, which could have messed me up big time, but they jumped right on it and made sure we were not late for RPDE.

Jennifer O’Leary was a fabulous organizer and I think she did an excellent job.

So…there you have it. I’m looking forward to our Vow Renewal! :love:
 
Honeibee, that was a great trip report! I love that you spent even less on your shoes than I did on mine :thumbsup2 ($8 at Payless, baby! :rotfl2: ) and I think it's great that you had to ask Man in the Hallway to zip up your dress! And I think it's adorable that you still get goosebumps thinking about that fabulous surprise you did for DH. Soooo cute. :cutie: Thanks again!

Oh, and happy early anniversary! :woohoo:

(That was a lot of exclamation points. Sorry about that; I feel like that reads like I'm an overactive chihuahua or something...:rotfl: )
 
OMG - I LOVE the part about asking Random Guy at the Elevator to zip you up! I hope something that funny happens to me :rotfl:
 

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