And we move on to Day Two - Friday September 26th
I'll let you know right now, that we neglected to take pictures on Friday, so we sadly have none that I can share with you. There will be pictures of subsequent days though. All through the day on Friday, we got deliviries of wedding presents from UPS, FedEx, and the U.S. Postal Service. I know we said we weren't doing this for the presents, but danged it it wasn't fun getting them! LOL
After the very long and emotional night we'd had on Thursday, we didn't get up and going as early as we had originally planned. We slept until nearly 9am. The extra rest was nice, but we were now running late.
We packed up all of the remaining welcome bags in the car (Scott had already delivered the ones for people arriving on earlier days) along with our centerpieces, toasting flutes, cake serving set, cake topper, guest book & pen and the CD of music for the ceremony. My sister Sofia joined us as we ran our errands, while my parents stayed behind to tidy up the house and get ready for that evening's barbecue.
We only managed to drop off the one welcome bag for our officiant (she's local, but she and her husband and son decided to take the opportunitiy and stayed at a Disney resort for the first time) at the Yacht Club before we had to head over to Franck's to meet Marion, our wedding planner, and drop off all of the items for the reception.
While dropping off our items with Marion, we briefly met Meri, who had been the wedding coordinator for a gay couple who had done a commitment ceremony the night before. That's right, we were one of two commitment ceremonies at Disney World that weekend. How cool is that. I wish we could have met the other two guys.
We also looked around Franck's a bit to see what had changed in their brief two day refurb, the week before. All new paint, and replaced carpeting throughout (same pattern, I believe). The display cakes were back, and were the same ones we'd seen before (except that our style, the "Moderne" wasn't on dislplay yet). Quite a bit else was different, as the floral design team (who does pretty much all of the decor items for weddings) had taken the opportunity to pull everything back to their department and re-do everythng. It looked quite nice. We then walked over the the Wedding Pavillion so that Sofia could see it. She thought it was beautiful, but agreed that the Adventurers Club was a much better fit for us.
After leaving Franck's, we dropped off welcome bags at Old Key West, Pop Century, Caribbean Beach Resort, and the Boardwalk before heading home.
We had a quick lunch of cold cut sandwiches and chips (picked up by mom and dad who had done some shopping for the BBQ) and got to work setting up tables and chairs, icing soft drinks and beer, and generally preparing the house for a party.
At one point, we had to stop because Dad had to head over to the airport to pick up my brother, Dennis, along with my Uncle Kevin (his partner of 27 years, Randy, would be joining him Saturday evening) and my Aunt Kathy. They were all arriving on the same flight. While he was doing that, Mom, Scott and I took Tolliver and MacGregor (my parent's Westie) to the vet to be boarded until Tuesday morning. We really didn't want to leave Tolliver, but we knew it was the best thing for him. And he's so happy to see the ladies at the vet's office that it certainly wasn't a trauma for him. Especially, since his new buddy MacGregor was joining him.
We got home, were able to catch a very quick nap (thank goodness, we were still very tired) before Dad got home with Dennis, and Surprise! with Uncle Kevin & Aunt Kathy. They opted to go to their hotels after the BBQ and were there to pitch in to help us get ready.
At around 6pm my Aunt Dolores and Uncle Dick arrived (with a beautiful hand made quilted throw that she had made for us. She matched it to our Family Room decor, and it was on the back of the sofa in a matter of minutes). Shortly after that our friends Joe and Tyler arrived (see, I told you that you'd hear about our friends more) and then Jodie and Randy after them. They had decided that the crowds at the Adventurers Club were just too unbearable, so they'd made Thursday their last night at the club, too, and were joining us at our house for our family get together. Dennis started cooking the burgers and the rest of us reflected on how nice it is to have a chef in the family.
After we'd begun eating, my Uncle Barry arrived with his lady friend, Maureen, and my cousin Kelly. This ended up being a very good weekend for Barry and Kelly. My uncle had been having difficulties with his daughter for the past few years since she's come out of the closet as a lesbian. Being around us, and seeing Uncle Kevin and his partner talking about being together 27 years really helped Barry to reconnect with Kelly a little bit. Especially since she started telling us about her girlfriend Katie and how happy she is to have met her (they've been dating for 6 months). Barry hasn't met her yet, but is now going to do so.
We had a wonderful time on our patio, spending a fairly relaxing time with everyone who was able to make it. We wish that my Aunt and cousins from my mom's side of the family could have made it, too, but they arrived too late to join us.
As we wrapped everything up, our friends Randy & Jodie talked to us about our plan for the Hospitality Suite/Welcome party the next night after our rehearsal dinner. I told them that I'd leave a key to the Grand Villa at the desk for them, and that we just needed them to hang out there in case anyone showed up before we could get back from the rehearsal dinner. I showed them all of the food and drink items we had ready to pack into Scott's SUV the next day (Two huge plastic bins, a cooler, several fridge packs of sodas, a couple cases of beer, and a small suitcase filled with liquor bottles wrapped in bathtowels). They told us that it was silly for us to have to worry about all of that stuff and that they'd take it for us. So they loaded up their SUV, called our friend Kyle and his wife Rande (more of the Florida Family) and cooked up a plan to meet and set up the Hospitality Suite for us. They told us they didn't want us to worry about it and that they'd take care of it. I was floored. We really do have the best friends in the whole world. They worked so hard to make sure that our Hospitality Suite/Welcome Party was a huge hit. They didn't have to do it, they wanted to do it for us. I'm still touched and overwhelmed by how awesome they are.
So, after a long day, and not enough sleep, we crashed hard and slept very well.
Up next, Day Three and we check into the Boardwalk, Attend the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner, and close the night with this family and friends in the Grand Villa.