Claire & Mikes Wedding TR

[Chilly80]

Back story:

Mike and I met at University so by the time we got married we had been together over 9 years. We got engaged at DLRP on July 4th 2008. Our wedding party included just our family, my Mum, Dad, and Step Dad, and Mike's Mum, Dad, and Brother.

Vendor Reviews:

Kathleen Reynolds
I cannot say enough good things about Kathleen, she was wonderful from start to finish. She answered e-mails quickly, offered good suggestions, was very friendly and just a joy to work with. I hope when we have our Vow Renewal she'll still be there to plan it!

Rosie - Floral
Rosie was lovely and helpful but new brides should be aware they you don't get much attention from her until much nearer your wedding. My bouquet was stunning and I was so sad to leave it behind. The only hicup we had is our DP centrepieces did not turn up till half way through and that annoyed me a lot as they didn't even say sorry. Rosie is looking into this at the moment.

Disney Food & Service
I drool everytime I think about the food, it was wonderful and Brad our server was great, very attentive and up to anything I asked him apart from getting me some slippers!

Cinderella Coach
I do not regret the cost at all, it was one of the highlights of the day.

Ana - Make Up
I loved Ana she was so funny and friendly and got my hair and make up spot on both at the trial and on the day it also lasted all day. Kerry who did my Mum's also did a great job.

Randy - Photographer
Randy turned up half an hour early and stayed at least half and hour late, we got our photo's delivered in person less than 2 weeks after the wedding, about 500 prints and about 2500 on CD, and I love them, they are perfect and i've had so many compliments about them. He was a lovely man, friendly and chatty and didn't stop taking photos.

Stan - Videographer
We don't have our full video yet as we've not picked our song choices but I love the sneek peak and if its anything like that I will no doubt love our wedding video as well. Stan also did the live webcast for us which went off without any problems and was a bargain.

Rev K Knox
Rev Knox was very nice but he only turned up a few minutes before I did which I could forgive but more importantly he put something into the ceremony that I did not want, why he did this I don't know, he had our ceremony printed out and had had it for ages, I know he had read it because he had suggested a change to the order. This didn't spoil the ceremony for me though it was still wonderful but I can't say that was anything to do with him.

GF Spa
My Mum and I had pedicures and they did a wonderful job, much better than the manicure I had at home and it was lovely to chill out there with my Mum before the wedding.

[Chilly80]

The weather in the UK:


We got up at 9am and packed the last minute bits like toothbrushes into our suitcases. I went off to the hairdresses at 11am to get my hair coloured for the final time. I got back at lunchtime and after we ate we took down the Christmas decorations.



We then did a bit of tidying, checked in online for our flights and I said bye bye to everyone on here and FB. We were then left with about an hour to kill before we needed to leave for the train station, I thought I would go crazy in that hour as I just wanted to get going.

Finally we set off. Mike drove me and the suitcases to the train station and left me at Costa Coffee with a hot chocolate while he took the car home and then walked back to the station. We got on the train and hour and a half later arrived at Gatwick airport.

We went to Twilight check in and found a queue which surprised me. While Mike got in the queue I double checked that my wedding dress suitcase was small enough to be allowed as hand luggage and it was phew. When we got near the front on the queue an arguement broke out between a woman checking in and a Virgin Check In girl, so that entertained us for a while. We dropped our bags off with no problems and I made a mental note of how much our suitcases weighed so that I could better judge on the way home.

Next we walked over to the Hilton hotel and checked in. We found these in our room...







We headed down to the restaurant and decided on the buffet. I decided to start the holiday the right way and had a glass of pink champagne, Mike had red wine. As it was Christmas Eve they had roast turkey as well as other items. After dinner it was back to the room to watch a bit of telly before bedtime.

[Chilly80]

December 25th 2009

We got up after a bit of procrastinating, got ready and headed down to breakfast. As normal I could hardly eat anything because of excitment. We headed back to the airport a bit behind schedule and went through security, by the time we had done that and picked up a few bits we needed it was time to go to the gate, we had wanted to get some perfume and aftershave in the duty free but didn't want to rush this so didn't bother. At the gate they were checking everyone's hand luggage, obviously I didn't want them to open the case with my dress in near Mike or at all really. As we went through they had already started boarding the plane and all the security people were busy so we were waved straight through without being stopped - result.

The flight was pretty standard. We both had turkey for dinner and watched UP which I loved. I then read and Mike watched something else. We had taken off late but made up the time in the air. We got through security quite quickly by going to the far right lane. Our bags came through quickly and we kept them with us on the monorail. We picked up our car without any problems and set off to the happiest place on earth.



We checked into the Poly, sadly no free upgrade, but I loved our room.








Mike went to move the car and I took my dress out of its suitcase and put it into its bag.



We then headed over to MK on the monorail. I loved being able to get the monorail places.




I love the castle at Christmas. I was really hungry so we headed to the noodle station as that has never been open when we've been before. Straight after I started eating I went off my food which is unlike me. We headed over to the castle as a preformance was starting in about 15 minutes. We weren't there long when I started to feel ill. Mike asked if I wanted to leave, I really didn't as I'd really looking forward to watching the parade and fireworks on Christmas Day but thought it was probably sensible to leave. Half way down Main Street I realised I really was sick and needed to get out of there ASAP.

I'll leave Day 1 there as i'm sure no one wants to know what happened next.

[Chilly80]

December 26th

This morning we had an ADR booked at Ohana for breakfast but I was still ill and in no condition to leave the room. I spent the day in bed not eating and poor Mike hung around the room.

My Dad, Mum, and Step-Dad were flying in today although on different flights but we had heard about the Christmas Day scare and my Dad texted me to let me know about both their flights delays. I expected to hear from my Mum about 2 hours after they were due to land but heard nothing so I texted her, no reply, I rung her, turned off, I tried her hotel, they'd not checked in, I tried again, still nothing, I was getting a little bit worried.

At about 8.30pm my Dad texted to say he had landed and so Mike set off to pick him up from the airport, although I was feeling much better by now I thought I better not risk going. I tried calling my Mum again without any luck. 40 minutes after Mike left my Dad texted me to say he was through, it had taken Mike and I and hour to get through so I was surprised by this, via text my Dad started getting annoyed that Mike wasn't there yet (I later found out traffic had been bad and at one toll only one booth was open), he then rung me up and started shouting at me down the phone, well I wasn't having that and so I hung up on him. Seconds later the hotel phone rings and finally it is my Mum (turns out they'd got lost on the way from the airport to Coronado Springs, well and truely lost) well then I break down into tears.

I was so relived when Mike returned, turns out my Dad had been rude to him to but then did a 180 turn and wanted to come and see me even though by now its about 10.30pm and he was really tired. Mike tells him I'll probably be in bed but he rings me when he gets checked into his hotel as if the last phone call had never happened. Turns out the hotel has no record of his booking (through eBookers) but he has his confirmation so they let him stay.

No photos taken today but here are some of my parents room at Coronado Springs...

[Chilly80]

December 27th 2009

Thankfully today I was feeling better. We started the day with a 9am ADR for breakfast at the Kona Cafe with my Mum and Step-Dad (Dave).

Mike & I had pancakes, although I left most of mine, Mum had an omlette, and my Step-Dad had eggs.





After breakfast Mike and Dave headed off to play golf and Mum and I walked around the Poly.




We then headed back to my room as at 11am I had an appointment with Ana to try out my hair and make-up for the wedding. Ana was lovely and funny and so very chatty, she did my hair and make-up perfectly.



She then re-did my hair for me to wear that day.




Once she had left we set off to the GF on the monorail and had a good look round then walked over to the WP but a wedding was going to start soon so we couldn't go in. By now it was just before 2pm so we stopped in at the Spa to see if they could make our pedicure appointments any earlier but they were fully booked so we went back to the GF to have a drink before returning to the Spa just before 3pm. The pedicures were great and it was lovely spending some girl time with my Mum.

Mike and Dave picked us up at the GF but self parking is quite far away so this involved my Mum and me doing a funny waddle walk to keep our flip flops on. My parents returned to their hotel after dropping us off at the Poly where I had arranged to meet my Dad. We showed him round the resort before he returned to his hotel to get ready for our ADR that day.







Tonight we were eating at the WCC at WL with all my parents.



We picked everyone up and drove over there. We picked up a buzzer and then went to take some photos by the tree, the second we finished the buzzer went off.



We opted to share the family buffet thing and liked the food but I don't think i'd go back. Sorry this is the only photo I took!



Mike and I got given a glass of champagne each to celebrate our up coming wedding and I got a cupcake for my birthday which was the next day and everyone sung happy birthday to me. Sorry we had already eaten some when I remembered to take a photo.



We dropped everyone back at their hotel and returned to the Poly and Mike told me I needed to set the alarm for 4.45am the next day for my birthday surprise!

[Chilly80]

December 28th 2009

Today was my 29th birthday and it started rather early with the alarm going off at 4.45am. Mike had booked a surprise for my birthday, I had an idea what it was, mainly because my Dad had not wanted to come, and I was right, we were going on a hot air balloon. We picked Mum and Dave up at 5.30am as we had to be at the Ramada hotel by 6am.

Once there we headed out with 32 people and lots of people who worked for the company in a fleet of vans to the site we would launch from. We travelled for quite a period and went really far "off-road" before we came to the right place. Then it was time to set up the balloon and Mike helped.




Take off was no problem and before you knew it we were floating over Orlando, it was so peaceful up there, I loved it.



The company we were with put up 2 ballons that morning and 2 further balloons launched from the same field as us and we saw some others while up there.

[Chilly80]

After we landed we had to all help pack the balloon away and then we had champagne and everyone sang happy birthday to me. We headed back to the Ramada and were not that far away, were we had a breakfast buffet. We dropped my parents back at their hotel and told them we'd ring them later. I sent my Dad a text telling him how it had gone and that i'd speak to him later as Mike and I now had to head over to the courthouse to get our marriage license. I had printed out directions and off we went. We were on the road and it just seemed to go on forever and we atarted to get worried that we'd missed the turning but we eventually saw it and got parked no problem. Into the courthouse we went and joined the line we needed. While Mike queued I filled out the form we needed and then we waited, the queue moved quite slowly and most people seemed to be doing passport forms but we did see one other couple who were getting married but they actually got married in the next room in jeans and brown t-shirts. Mike thought it was quite funny that we had to swear to God. The journey back to the Poly went much quicker and I was feeling very happy until my Dad sent me a text message that annoyed me.

The weather was lovely so I got changed then I rang my Mum and they were still at their hotel, they had decided just to have a nap after the early morning so we drove over and picked them up and headed over to DHS where my Dad was.







We met up with him and it turns out he had been there since 9am, it is now 2pm, but he doesn't seem to have done anything in those 5 hours. We check the timetable and see a Lights etc show is on in a bit so we show my parents round the park a bit before heading over there.



Everyone enjoys the show and we decide to see Indy next but again we have some time to kill so we get my Dad a jumper in the Star Wars shop and go to get some hot drinks. At this point the temperature drops and I am now very cold. We head towards Indy but the thought of sitting in the cold is so very not appealing but our dinner ADR at 50's PTC is not for hours yet and I start to feel sick again and very stessed and I burst into tears again (did I mention my birthday is cursed). After i've calmed down we go into Sounds Dangerous as its inside and I have a think, I want to see the Osborne Lights but after that I think it best I go back to the hotel which everyone is happy to do.






I continue to feel ill while we walk round and all the way back to the hotel. I'll again end this day here as no one wants to hear what comes next.

[Kim]

So sorry to hear you were ill... not nice when you are away from home.

Great trippy so far. Can't wait for more


Kim

[Sarah84]

Glad to see you have decided to post this over here Claire, i was really enjoying reading it over on the Dis hope you post the rest of it though

[voddygirl]

Aww hun what a rotten few days you`ve had ...hope you started to feel better and less stressed soon enough...cant wait to see the frock