Honeymoon Parte Uno

I thought I'd do a little honeymoon recap - mainly because I want to throw myself back into the magic.  I think I have mentioned about 43 times now that I really want to go back to Disney World.  I'm not sure PB is ready, but I sure am.  It was too fun.  

Day Numero Uno:

We left for the airport after I tried to keep some breakfast down for awhile because I had WAY too much fun at the reception afterparty.  We made it to the airport, after a frantic trip to Target because I realized we had forgotten to pack socks for PB, and that we needed a travel bag for my new camera.

We finally made it to the airport, and had no holdups, except for the fact that my bag was overweight, which the lady probably would have ignored had PB not blurted out, "I'M SURE THIS HUGE BAG IS OVER YOUR WEIGHT LIMIT.  OH SEE, 54 POUNDS!"  So after reshuffling our luggage whilst praying that my underwear didn't fly out all over the check-in kiosk (it didn't, thank the baby Jesus), we made it to the plane.  We flew Air Tran, which I'd never flown before, but I was seriously impressed! 

Our flight attendant was a hilarious lady who gave us a show during the safety presentation since she knew that PB and I were the only ones in the back of the plane even halfway paying attention.  She did a few dance steps, she indicated emergency exits with just the one, ahem, finger, and she made faces.  I love it.  Then she found out we had just gotten married and moved us up to first class!  I had never gotten to fly first class before, and boy was it swanky.  Huge seats, and all the drinks you want!  Crazy!

  

(Though I ordered a bloody Mary, thinking I could handle it.  I couldn't handle it.  Had to pawn it off on PB.)

When we got to MCO (Orlando International Airport, for those of you who don't live and breathe Disney), we waited for the big Mickey bus to come bring us to our hotel!

Magical Express, ho!  (Don't you love interesting uses for that word?)

Me and PB on the Magical Express, where they show you Disney cartoons all the way to Disney and your creepy driver talks like this - seriously, watch this video I snapped of him, ultra-creepster:

See?!  I told you!  This guy tries really hard at his job but he also gives me a little bit of an I-might-be-a-serial-killer-when-I'm-not-driving-this-thing vibe.

There they are!  The magical arches!  Turbo-nerd alert.

We arrived at our hotel, The Boardwalk Inn, and were helped by a sweet Disney International program who really didn't speak much English.  That caused our room situation to get 50leven shades of jacked up, and we really ended up with 2 rooms for the week.  Interesting.  And also annoying because we had to carry around 2 cards in order to get into the parks, pay for things, etc. as well as to get into our rooms.  That was a little less than magical.

The details of the hotel, however?  Incredibly magical.  It's all decorated like an early 1900s boardwalk resort, and the theming is crazy.  

Here's our room for the week!

Here's PB checking out the balcony, looking like Secret Squirrel on a mission.  

And an awkward photo of me on the balcony.

Here's the sweet towel art that Mousekeeping left for us!

Here's PB inside one of the several courtyards - that place is GIANT.

Here's me, posing for pictures whilst we wait for luggage to arrive.

This was the view from the boardwalk, out over the lagoon.  So, so pretty, especially at night.

Since Epcot was a recommended park for us on Sunday, we decided to hit that one first.  We were both miserably exhausted but I was also way too excited to just sit and watch TV in the room or lay by a pool.  We hit up Test Track first, because PB had never done it before, and as a ride themed around cars, specifically GM cars, I knew I could get him excited about Disney World with that one.  

And it worked!  See, here he is going, "OMG, that's the motor in my Tahoe, take a picture of me with it."  Ummm, ok honey, sure thing.

They have a showroom with GM cars in the post-ride area, that you can climb all in and take pictures with - this is the Acadia, that PB really thinks I need.  I'm not sold.  

Here's PB with a Camaro in the gift shop.

Despite being ridiculously, ridiculously exhausted, we had dinner reservations at the Polynesian resort that night, near the Magic Kingdom.  There was no way I was missing reservations at Ohana during fireworks time, so we nearly fell asleep on the bus to the Magic Kingdom, and dragged ourselves to the monorail that would take us to Ohana.  But boy, was it ever worth it.  

They gave us these sweet little buttons as soon as we walked in, because they knew we were honeymooners.  Mickey is like Santa, and knows everything.

And I was seeing everyone with these big pineapple drinks, and despite our exhaustion, I felt I needed one.  And it was good.  How could a drink in a pineapple not be?

Here's PB, getting excited for some hardcore nomming, because Ohana is a family style restaurant that brings you dishes and dishes and dishes of every single course.  Basically, it's amazing.

See those little dumplings?  I know I ate at least 15 of them.  Honey sesame chicken wings, noodles, and every kind of meat and dipping sauce you could think of.  They kept bringing it out until I thought I would hurl at the mere sight of food.  It was by far the most fantastical meal of our honeymoon.  Even better, I tried very hard to schedule certain meals during fireworks times so that we could watch them while we ate.  We were able to see the fireworks out over the lagoon while they played the music in the restaurant.  Gorgeous!

Then, though we had little to no energy left, we decided to take advantage of Extra Magic Hours, or times when certain parks are open past their usual closing time just for Disney resort guests.  That night, it was Magic Kingdom extra magic hours from 9:00 until midnight, and you just can't pass up that kind of opportunity.  We were stuffed, we were zombies, but you still can't beat Big Thunder Mountain railroad at night.  

Here's me and PB in front of the fun little busts outside the Haunted Mansion - one of my favorite rides and also infinitely better at night.  

Stay tuned for part two! 

Reception!

Finally, a nice, lazy Sunday morning to update the old blog.  I feel like I haven't had five minutes to call "lazy" in the last few weeks, and it feels good!  Okay, want to hear about the reception?  Here we go.

I don't have pictures back from my photographer yet, but facebook is crawling with them, and in this instance, I think pictures tell you more than I can describe.

Let's start with decor.  Lots and lots of roses and orchids!  Loved it!

So there's your scene.  Consider it set.  Because of our timing issues earlier in the day, we had barely taken a single picture before the wedding, so we had to be one of Those People Who Spends Forever Taking Pictures and Making People Wait.  Our photographers were great though, and I will say they did a great job of getting us to the reception.

We had a minor scare because we were supposed to be setting up PB's laptop to show a slideshow of pictures of us as kids, and the laptop went missing.  Turns out it was in the upstairs bathroom.  You know, where we keep the laptops.  

We were ready to walk in, and we had no idea where my parents, Phillip's parents, or anyone else was. So in true Bridezilla fashion, I said, "FORGET IT.  If you're not here, you're just gonna have to come in without an announcement."  

But once we started our first dance, everything was fine.   We danced to Sam Cooke's "That's Where It's At."  I had been so worried about it feeling awkward, because I'm not really about being in the middle of the Soul Train circle and dancing while everyone else stands and watches, but it was actually lovely.  

Then things, well, they got a bit cray cray.  But I think everyone had fun.

I decided to change into my reception dress - I had brought it, thinking I wouldn't want to change out of my big wedding dress, you know, since it's the only time you have to wear it.  But I felt like I was suffocating, and even with it bustled, it was still long in the back, which was really hampering my dancing skills.  I put that short dress on and it was like being let out of prison!  It felt so good.  The hair had to go up too, because that too was causing me to feel like I might burst into flames.

The garter toss was really fun, and it was caught by PB's cousin, who wore my hot pink garter on his head the rest of the night.  I love this picture that someone snapped - too funny!

This is maybe my favorite picture of the whole night, that showed up on Facebook a few days later.  My mom, Jessica's mom, and Michelle, one of the bridesmaids.  Cracks me up every time.

Here we are leaving - sweaty, tired, and after having a whole lot of fun.

(See Chris in the background with the garter on his head?)

I just couldn't bear to go home yet, so we went across the street to a fun little bar and kept the party going probably longer than I should have.  It was a great night though, and despite the goof-ups, which everyone told me would happen (and I didn't believe them), it was a perfect, perfect night.

The Big Wedding Post

I'm so glad to see that some of you are still here, following along!  So, here it is - wedding pictures!  And a big, hairy recap!

I woke up early, early and went to pick up my sister - then all the bridesmaids convened at my parents' house and we all went over to the salon to get ready for the day.  Which, let me tell you, was a PROCESS.  There was lots of makeup to be done (for me) and lots of hair to be done (for all of us).  

There's the lovely Chip in the background working on my head!!  I never knew my hair could do that.  Seriously, it's a miracle.  I don't know how he does it.  But it can't be replicated, and certainly not by me.  

And my MAKEUP!  My makeup was miraculous.  Sweet little Stanly, the amazing makeup artist at my salon, airbrushed my face first and then spent forever doing other stuff to it.  He'd say, "Okay, now we're going to put on eyeliner," and he'd be mixing up paint and spraying things in a tray and dabbing at my face six ways from Sunday.  I was like "Uhhh, when I put on eyeliner, it (at most) involves digging my crummy pencil out of my bag and crookedly smearing some in the general direction of my eyes.  It takes about 2.3 seconds."

There's me, post makeup, but obviously pre-hair.

And there's my hair from the back, as we were getting ready to leave. 

I couldn't believe how hard those sweet folks at Fuze worked to get me, Mom, and the bridesmaids ready.  I was so happy with how everything turned out!

But because of all the primping and fussing we all required at the salon, we started running majorly behind schedule.  We went back to my parents' house, wrangled me into That Giant Marshmallow Contraption of a Dress, and were ready to roll.  The plan was for the groomsmen to come to the house, and each of them would pick us up in a convertible and drive us the mile or so to the church whilst we sat in the convertibles, parade-style.  Except the groomsmen weren't there.  And I was finally dressed.  And I couldn't really sit.  And I hadn't had much of a chance for any nerves to get to me until then.  So yes, I had my little bridezilla moment.  Or a big one, you could call it that.

Here I am, after wrangling myself into the rumble seat of the car, probably on the point of hollering, "NO MORE PICTURES.  GET IN THE CAR.  DO YOU KNOW WHAT TIME IT IS?"  I'm surprised people still talk to me.  It didn't help at all that someone called and told me they were closing the street where my parents live and where the church is at 4:00 and it was about 3:45.  I freaked, y'all.  Then it turns out they were actually closing it the next day at 4:00 for a 9/11 thing, so all that freaking was not even necessary.  But you know, it happens.

Here's Lia's view of the big parade as we came down the street!  Finally at last!

When we got to the church, PB sent over my wedding present.  I think the pictures describe it better than I ever could:

It was a Canon rebel!  I was so excited!

See?

That helped distract me and kept me from killing anyone or pulling at my hair like a psych patient before we went out. 

I wish I had pictures of the ceremony at this point, but alas, not yet.  It was perfect though - we picked out all the verses and wording ourselves, and it was beautiful.  No one bawled, even though I'd really expected PB to bawl.  I have to say, lots of that part is kind of a blur to me.  I was trying so hard to take in all the people I saw, but there are still names I see in the guest registry and think, "What?  I never saw those people there."  

Neither of us cried until we got out into the narthex and then PB hugged me and we both cried.  We're pitiful.  But at least I didn't cry in front of everyone - y'all know I am not a crier.  

The reception deserves its own post - so I think you'll get that one later.  For now, here are the amazing pictures from one of our photographers that we have so far!