4/25 Continued
So when we last left off, we had just finished the rehearsal. Caryn, Mark, Megan and Ross were all heading out to DHS. I'm not sure what my parents were doing, but they ended up in Epcot that afternoon... Chris's family checked out the Polynesian.
Chris and I walked over to the spa for our nail appt. We were brought right in and taken to the different locker rooms. I didn't realize that there was a separate room for men and women. I was hoping that I didn't have to wait long so I sat in a chair with a glass of water and read a health magazine. (I wish they would have had a Cosmo or something in there) I got a lot of compliments on my bride ears and questions about the wedding. I was getting super stressed out so it was nice to have a little while to relax. Finally I was brought into the nail room and Chris was brought in right after me.
I picked out a fuscia for my toenails and asked for french on my hands. Chris got a bottle of polish that was called Man-E-Cure, which I thought was pretty funny. They did a mud thing on our arms and legs. It's now been 11 days and my manicure is done.... but a week and a half is a really long time for a manicure. My toes still look incredible. I do want to mention that our nails took a LONG time. Our appt was at 11:30, we got there at about 11 and we didn't leave until about 1. So remember to schedule in a two hour block for this.
I liked that Chris and I were able to talk to each other without our wedding guests around, and this was really the first time we were able to do that. We figured that the nail ladies didn't care about our rehearsal or our guests so we talked in front of them. It was important to me that we got some alone time to just talk (now, what the nail ladies must have thought of us was a completely different story).
We realized that we were getting pretty close on time for our lunch ressie with Chris's family so as soon as Chris was done he went out to pay and called his sister to have check us in. I didn't think that morning and put on my prima crocs (which I love). I didn't want to be late for lunch, and I didn't want to ruin my pedicure so I walked from the GF Spa to the GF Cafe with my pedicure flip flops and the toe divider still in. (Again, I'm sorry that I don't have a picture of this... I was in a rush. I was a little embarrassed but figured that I wasn't the first person to have done this.)
We arrived at lunch and I met Chris's godmother (Aunt Karen) and her husband (Uncle Jeff) for the first time. They were very nice and very excited about the wedding. We were all seated at a long table in the middle.
The waiter was very nice (I think his name was Robert). He took everyone's drink orders and then came to take our orders. At this point I was stressed. I was super tired, we still had a zillion things to do, I was so nervous I couldn't eat anything... I was really not in good form. When I asked Robert if someone could "create" me a grilled cheese (because it wasn't on the menu) he didn't bat an eyelash and told me that he'd be happy to get me the kids grilled cheese. (Grilled Cheese is my comfort food).
I took this wonderful picture of Chris
Around this time we realized that we had welcome bags for Chris's grandparents, aunt, and Dad in the car. I switched back to my crocs (my toes were dry by now) and Claudia and I went down to the car to get them. We handed out the welcome bags and told everyone that we would see them at the wedding.
Now, originally, Chris and I were going to go straight from lunch to Epcot. You'll notice that we really didn't have any park time and I wanted some. Not a lot, we're in Disney all the time, but a little. Well that was just not going to happen on this trip. We were both exhausted and cranky so we went back to the room to take a nap. Chris put on ESPN (it was the first day of the NFL draft and he wanted to watch) I read a few chapters in my book and then tried to nap. I closed my eyes and laid down for a half hour and just couldn't fall asleep. I stayed like that for a little while longer and my phone rang. It was my father calling from Epcot. The conversation went like this:
Me: Hi Dad, what's the matter?
Dad: Hi Lin, I thought you might be trying to nap, but I just wanted to tell you that Mom and I are on the Italy Isola taking pictures and we're both REALLY excited. We went into the American Adventure and they let us upstairs and we took pictures of that too! We're like little kids! We can't wait!
Me: Dad. You are so strange. I was trying to nap. Glad you are having fun. We'll be heading out there in a little while and we'll call you when we get there.
It was really amusing to see my Dad so excited. We used to go to Disney a lot when we were kids and Epcot was (is) my parents favorite park. So it's not like he'd never been there before, he was just really really excited.
We waited for the first two picks of the draft (which was really exciting for me, let me tell you) and then we hopped in the car for Epcot. We wandered in and started heading for Japan. We stopped at Italy Isola in case my parents were still there (an hour later) and sent everyone a text to see where they were. We walked over to Japan and there were my parents, Caryn, Mark, Megan and Ross. Caryn and Megan were wearing the "I'm Celebrating" buttons and the castmember had written "Lindsay's Wedding." They were both still wearing their matching shirts from the rehearsal.
Shortly after that Dave, Renee, the kids and everyone else showed up and Chris took Julian to check in. The managers and wait staff in Japan was simply INCREDIBLE. I forgot to mention, but during lunch the manager called Chris to confirm that we were still on for that night and to confirm the number of people. I was really impressed. We had a bit of a wait for a table so I took some pictures.
AJ and Dave
Megan
Caryn and Mark
Finally our tables were ready and we all went in and sat down. I was a little worried that my family wouldn't like the food.... they had never eaten here. I think they liked it.... Dad's plate was completely clean by the end of the meal and he mentioned several times that meals like that were the reason that Japanese people are so thin.
Mom and Dad liked the warm towels
Chris and Julian figure out chopsticks
Zacky already had his chopsticks figured out
Chris and Claudia had some Saki
Some of you may remember that our wedding day was also Mark's birthday. We knew that we weren't going to be able to have a cake or anything the next day so we asked the manager if she could bring out a cupcake for Mark. They brought out his cake and everyone (including the chef) sang Happy Birthday to Mark in Japanese.
Then they came out with a cupcake for us and sang If you're happy and you know it clap your hands. (Mom got a big kick out of that)
Dinner was over and we went outside and saw some VERY special DisBrides!! I was so excited to see them. They have been with me throughout this whole process and they knew about everything involved with the wedding...
Cat and Kristen read Caryn's MOH shirt
And then we took a DisHusbands Pic!
Chris, AJ, Ross, Dave, Megan and Claudia all decided to walk over to ESPNZone to watch the draft and it was decided that I would walk with Cat, Kristen and Caryn to Intl Gateway. Caryn and Mark were parked at Boardwalk and they would drop me at my car in the Epcot parking lot (it seems more confusing than it actually was) We said our goodbyes to Cat and Kristen and then I hopped in my car and drove back to Boardwalk to pick up Chris at ESPN. I had a beer there and then decided that I was really tired and we needed to go back.
We got back to the room, again started to organize everything for the next day and tried to go to sleep.
Coming up: Wedding day and "OMG WHAT IS WRONG WITH MY NECK"