Dan & Dave's Orlando Wedding Day - Oct 15

[DiddyDan]

Hey everyone! So it’s been 3 months since our wedding day and I have real holiday blues now I was okay because we have been so busy since we got back, but then it hit me on Christmas day! Last Christmas day we told my 3 nieces we were going to Orlando and on a cruise, so I was really disappointed we didn’t have a surprise like that for them this Christmas day.

Anyways, my sister Lisa has already started her trip report and the next day she will post is the wedding day so thought I best get writing! I’m going to start with the day before as we had a few wedding bits to sort out and an American style rehearsal dinner

Just want to give everyone a head up that this is very looooonnnggg (I wanted to tell a story ) and I’m including hundreds of photos! So you might want to go make a cuppa!

Tuesday 13th October 2015

We we’re up very early today as we had an 8.15am reservation at Crystal Palace. That’s me & Dave, my Mum & Dad, Lisa Phil Madison & Kaley and Ryan Bethany & Piper. Dave’s parents and brother didn’t want to do any character meals and we couldn’t get my sister Michelle and her family a reservation.

We all drove to Magic Kingdom – we love these pics of our 3 cars next to each other!





Then made our way into Magic Kingdom on the bus! The monorail wasn’t working and so they directed us to get the bus.
Once we were inside we had a LOT of photo pass photos! I think we stopped at every photographer down Main Street!







We finally made our way into Crystal Palace, as usual the girls loved it! And us adults loved Pooh’s French toast!







Afterwards myself Lisa and Mum took Madison and Kaley to see Anna and Elsa! This was absolutely brilliant, we had been given additional fast passes so used this as our first and me and my Mum were so pleased as we wouldn’t have got to see the girls with them otherwise. Anna and Elsa were amazing, they spent so much time with the girls and had so much to say to them, Madison and Kaley we’re in awe.





After this we split up as we all wanted to do different things, me, Dave, Mum and Dad headed over to 7DMT to use another extra fast pass! This was the first time we had all been on it and absolutely LOVED it! It’s so smooth, and we loved rocking the seats! It’s now a new fave of ours!



The 4 of us then went on Philharmagic, I love this and it was the first time Dave had seen it and he liked it too Afterwards we went on Space Mountain, we both loved this!



Next it was time for Buzz’s Space ranger spin!



I’m pretty sure we then went and had another go 7DMT as we loved it so much!



We then had a slow walk round to Adverntureland as we had a fast pass for Splash Mountain – when we got there we still had another hour to go so decided to call it a day as we still had wedding preparations to make.

On our way out of Magic Kingdom we stopped and bought 2 green Mickey Head balloons for the wedding



Me and Dave now went to Walmart to get a few bits for the wedding. We had hired the Grand 1 Yacht for the evening, and so wanted some drinks to take on board. We bought 2 bottles of pink champagne, some beers (Corona I think!) and some cookies to take on with us. We had also ordered some chocolate covered strawberries from Disney as I felt cheeky taking our own food on, I thought I best order something from them. However, if I did it again I wouldn’t bother ordering anything from Disney as it’s so expensive! We saved so much money taking our own alcohol on, the only thing they provide is bottled water.

We also bought lots of bottled water to take with us on the wedding day, and some breakfast to have the following morning.

We got back to our room in OKW, had time to get ready quickly and let everyone know we would see them at Ohana. Our reservation was at 5 but we wanted to be there early to try and make sure we were all sat together as we had 2 reservations, one for 14 people and one for 5 people.

First though, we made our way to the California Grill. I had contacted the Manager before we went away to see if they would be able to hold some things for us for the wedding day, they were perfectly happy with this. I had a box full of goodie bags for the 6 kids, our place cards and the wedding favours. We took it to the front desk and they took it off our hands, with no problems and said they would have it at our table tomorrow. Yay!

[DiddyDan]

Now we made our way over to Ohana, and checked in at 4.30. The man at the front desk very kindly checked us in, even though only me and Dave were there, he checked us in as we were a large party to make sure we were all sat together! Amazing! I quickly whatsapp’d my family to check they were on their way and couldn’t be late! Just after both sets of our parents arrived, so we made our way to the bar to have a drink, me and my Mum had the Lapu Lapu, it was delicious!



Lisa and Ryan then arrived, took the buzzer off me and stood hidden behind a post, I had no idea why at the time! The buzzer went off not long after and Lisa rushed to get to the table first. Once we got there I could see why … there were presents in mine and Dave’s seats!







We all sat down on one big table, which I absolutely loved! Then Michelle arrived, she sat down so we started opening our presents. What amazing gifts we got from my family, so thoughtful and perfect for us. My family really went above and beyond for our wedding, we we’re just happy that everyone could come let alone getting us gifts too





The food started coming pretty quickly, which everyone loved. We had all been except for Dave’s family and Michelle’s family so I was really hoping they would enjoy it! Michelle couldn’t believe they hadn’t been before!













Throughout the meal Madison and Kaley kept giving us more presents, they were such a lovely surprise!







And of course the hats



We also got given fresh Lei’s as we were celebrating, and had to stand up in front of everyone and tell them we were getting married tomorrow. I usually hate being the centre of attention but for some reason I enjoyed this a little bit lol!

I felt like the meal went really fast, before we knew it we were paying the bill and heading out! We all said our goodbyes and headed back to the hotel.

Once we were back at OKW, Dave and his brother Adam went to Art of Shaving at Disney Springs – this was the only thing Dave wanted to do before the wedding so I said the night before would be okay. He really enjoyed this, and said he would do it again.







While Dave was gone, I sorted out our overnight bag for the wedding night, had a shower and washed my hair (as Beaute Speciale said it would be okay to wash it the night before and I didn’t want to get up any earlier)! And got everything out that we would need the next day.

Dave soon came back, I barely noticed he was gone lol and I think we got into bed at about 10.30. Yes I know, we didn’t stay in separate rooms! I figured we weren’t being traditional at all so why start there?! I somehow fell straight asleep, which I wasn’t expecting at all! We had only been in Orlando 2 days and I think we were shattered as we had been quite busy the whole time, which actually helped!

I should also mention, earlier on that day I had an email from Beaute Speciale saying that instead of arriving at 6.15am the following morning, they would be coming at 7am, which meant I had an extra 45 minutes in bed!

Up next the WEDDING DAY!

[DiddyDan]

Wednesday 14th October 2015

So after 16 months of planning, the day was finally here! Our Wedding Day! YAY! We both had a good night’s sleep, which was really good as I thought I’d be up most of the night! I think it helped that we did the wedding so early on in the holiday and also, I think I had let go … there was nothing more we could do, all we could do now was enjoy it!

We got up at about 6.30am, had showers then Dave sorted out his stuff and got ready to leave. I made sure he had the rings, the money he needed and our overnight bags. He was going to check in at the Grand Floridian. He left just as Beaute Speciale arrived, 3 lovely ladies called Cindy, Erica and Bisi. They started setting up.





I quickly whatsapp’d my family to let them know the ladies were here, as I did this Lisa knocked on the door. Bethany followed a couple of minutes later, then my Mum not long after. First off they did mine and Bethany’s hair and Lisa’s makeup. I had a couple of photos of the kind of hairstyle I wanted, and Cindy said yep that’s fine and started working on my hair.







Michelle then arrived and once we were done, Michelle and Lisa had their hair done while Mum had her make up done.







We all had a little laugh at the thought of the men looking after the 6 kids in the other room Then when my Mum was done, she had her hair done and I had my makeup done.



Here’s some photos of some of mine, Bethany’s and Lisa’s hair, absolutely stunning!

















We were all blown away with our hair and makeup, we would definitely recommend them as we all loved everything they did! I absolutely loved my hair and makeup!

The ladies left at about 9.45ish, so earlier than we thought, it made us think we had loads of time to kill lol! Lisa and Michelle went to get the girls so they could do their hair. We all had some croissants, coffee and juice and I just had a sit down to relax, while Lisa and Michelle did Madison, Kaley and Piper’s hair. It was lovely to just sit back, I think we felt like we had all the time in the world, this soon caught up with us lol!

Once the girls hairs were done, I think we had a mild panic as time was running out and we hadn’t worked out how we were going to sort everyone out so no one saw me, the Dad’s didn’t see the girls and so we could fit in a first look with my Dad!

We decided my Mum would go get dressed, then come back and get me in my dress, once I was ready my Dad could come over, the men could all leave the other room and my sisters would get the girls dressed (right at the last minute)!
Before my Mum left she gave me a present from her and my Dad, some gorgeous diamond earrings! I love them and haven’t taken them off since the wedding day

All of the men had the same ties, made from the same material and colour as the bridesmaid dresses, and all had matching socks.



My parents had bought me some wedding perfume at the airport that all the ladies wore



Before the girls were dressed, Jamie had looked out the window and said “Dave are the cars outside for us?!” They were early lol! They were early as they didn’t know how easy it would be for the cars to get to our villa at OKW, so were happy to wait for us.









Dave’s family and the men then went outside and had a few photos with the cars.





Whilst my Mum got me dressed, then we called my Dad to come over. Me and my Mum were fine, we were so excited that the wedding was here and we were finally going to show off mine and the girls dresses! (If you haven’t read my pre-trip report, we’d kept all the dresses a secret and hadn’t shown anyone what they were like!) My Dad knocked on the door, my Mum got the camera ready, opened the door, and my Dad walked in and said “oh don’t”, he was so teary and emotional he set me and my Mum off and we got no photos! I don’t mind at all though, as it was such a lovely moment between me and my parents that I’ll cherish forever. I gave them both a present and a card, which they couldn’t open as they said they’d be too upset and that they would open it later

We only had a couple of minutes then my Mum had to go back to her room to look after the girls so everyone else could leave!

Photos of everyone in the first limo.

[DiddyDan]

Me and Dad watched from our window to see the first limo pull away, I then phoned Mum and said I think we can leave!

Our rooms in OKW were 2 doors away from each other, on the second floor but up different flights of stairs. We all left at the same time and I could see my 5 nieces on the other staircase (it was the first time they had all seen me in my dress, and the first time my Dad had seen them in their dresses!), Madison shouted “Nana look how beautiful Dan is”! My Dad lifted my dress so I could walk easier down the stairs! We got to the bottom and the girls ran over to me, I told them all how beautiful they looked and Kaley said to me “Dan you look so pretty”. It was such a lovely moment to share with all of my nieces and my Mum and Dad

When the girls saw the limo we were going in they got very excited, they were most excited about not having to wear a seatbelt! They all climbed in first and sat down one end, then my Mum got in, then me and my Dad. We had just pulled away and I said I wish we had a camera to take some photos, luckily my Mum had her camera and we got some pics







I’ve just realised these are the first photos I am showing you of me in my dress! Obviously there are better ones coming up The reason we had kept my dress a secret is that it is actually a very pale mint green colour (the colour is called Lily Pond), which you can’t tell on all the photos! My dress is the same colour as the men's ties, and the bridesmaid dresses are matching flower girl dresses! You may not notice, but Kori and Piper (the youngest 2) have the same colour dress as me, and the oldest 3 have ivory dresses. Our dresses’ is the Tiana dress from the Disney Fairytale Wedding Collection! I never in a million years thought I would go with a long dress, I originally wanted a fifties style short dress, but my Mum persuaded me to try on this range and I was sold!

Now back to the Wedding day! It was such a short journey, maybe 10 minutes or so and we were arriving at Paradise Cove.



Side note – I had decided to travel to Paradise Cove with my nieces as I thought I would be really nervous and thought they would take my mind off it. Turns out I was absolutely fine all day and not nervous at all - I was just so excited to see Dave!

When we arrived I could see Randy ushering everyone else to keep moving so that we could get out of the limo without everyone seeing us! Bless him, Randy had arrived early to make sure me and Dave didn’t see each other Randy opened the car door, took a few pics then I took my shoes off and got out.





My Mum got out, then the 5 girls followed to which Randy said “are there any more? They just keep on coming!”

Madison



Sydney



Kaley



Kori in her shades



And Piper



We walked over to the little cottage where I spoke with Helen from Elegant Weddings, passed over the CD for the music and had a few pictures with the girls.













While we were having these photos with Randy, Phil was off taking some lovely photos too



Dave and his brother Adam



Dave and his Mum and Dad



Dave, Adam and his parents



Dave and my Mum



Ryan and Bethany



Michelle and Jamie



Lisa and Phil



All the men



All the ladies

[DiddyDan]

Helen had disappeared for a bit then came back and said everyone is ready for you! It was finally time!

Me and my Dad got the girls outside, then walked to near where we needed to be and waited for Helen to change the music then let us know we could go. I had an instrumental version of Let It Go for the girls to walk down the aisle to.

I think this was taken when the girls were walking down the aisle



Madison (aged 7) went first, she walked perfectly, holding her flowers high and the biggest grin on her face



Then it was Kaley’s (aged 4) turn, she missed the aisle and carried on walking away from everyone! Bless her, me and my Dad had to shout her back, it was so funny I’d have loved to have been at the end of the aisle watching her!

You can see her walking off in the back of this photo



While Kaley was correcting herself, Piper (aged 2) had started walking, she made us laugh too because once she had seen everyone she started running!





Next it was Kori’s (aged 3) turn, she ended up catching up with Kaley while walking down the aisle, and you can see in some of the photos that Kaley is telling her where she needs to go





Last up was Sydney (aged 6), bless her she looked so serious walking down the aisle. She carried a plaque I had bought, hoping maybe Saxon would be able to carry it, but he ended up sleeping through the whole ceremony! So I thought Sydney could carry it instead





I loved how they all came down the aisle how they wanted, it was so special that the girls just carried on being themselves

Now it was my turn! The music changed, The Piano Guys version of A Thousand Years. It bought a tear to my eye straight away, me and my Dad started walking, then I saw Dave and he was worse than me, he was so teary bless him, I somehow smiled the whole way down and my Dad somehow kept it together too









I won’t go into too much detail on the wording of the ceremony, we had the civil ceremony as we just wanted it short and sweet















Madison did a reading half way through:

What's Mickey without Minnie,
what's Piglet without Pooh,
what's Donald without Daisy,
that's me without you.

When Ariel doesn't sing,
and Pooh Bear hates honey,
when Tigger stops bouncing,
and Goofy isn't funny.

When Peter Pan can't fly,
and Simba never roars,
when Alice in Wonderland
can't fit through small doors.

When Dumbo's ears are small,
and happily ever after isn't true,
that's when I'll stop loving you.




Then Lisa did a reading:

All I want is to love you for the rest of my life…to wake up every morning with you by my side, knowing that whatever happens, I will be able to come home to your loving arms. All I want is to share everything with you…to talk to you about our ideas, our dreams, the little everyday things that make us laugh, and the not-so-little things that we can’t help worrying. All I want is to give out my love…as a place you can always come to for acceptance or the simple comfort that the silence brings, when things left unspoken can still be understood. All I want is to grow old with you…to watch our life unfold, our dreams, one by one, come true. All I want is to love you forever.




Then it was time to exchange the rings and do our vows.









And before we knew it we were married and Happy was playing as our exit music!













The ceremony and being at Paradise Cove was one of my favourite parts of the day, it was just so lovely having all of our immediate family there to celebrate with us, and we loved how intimate it was

[DiddyDan]

We had some family photos.













And some with the girls too. The girls each took it in turns to have little strops lol, so they aren’t in all the photos. But who can blame them, it was 31 degrees out and they were in puffy bridesmaid dresses! They did so well all day in them







You’ll notice Piper isn’t in these photos, so when we got her happy and smiling we had to snap away quickly!





My Dad was doing this behind Randy to make her laugh



So we quickly got the other girls in … but Kaley wasn’t happy so she wasn’t in this photo!



We had some on our own







We called Ryan the water boy today, as we all really needed some water and he whipped some out of his bag! A few ice cold ones too, he had come prepared I had bought 12 bottles in the limo which he went and got, and I think we went through them pretty quickly!

Next it was time to cut the cake and have some champagne. Dave’s brother Adam did a small toast, then we all got to eat some cake.













Who thought red velvet would be a good idea with the girls’ dresses?! It never even occurred to me, but luckily they were all fine The top tier was carrot cake, which we had the next day



You’ll notice Dave has my flowers in a few pics, they were so hard to carry as well as lifting up my dress!



Me and my little monster Saxon

[DiddyDan]

Afterwards we went on the sand and had some photos.

























Whilst we were having these photos, Phil was busy snapping away too! I love how he got us in the back of these two pics!









My Mum and Dad were very lucky, they were the only ones that got a photo with all the six kids!



I had some photos with the girls









Some of Lisa, Phil, Madison and Kaley







My Dad and Saxon





I love this group photo!



And also these pics of the men showing off their matching socks!

[DiddyDan]

The girls loved playing in the sand!











We had to tell Sydney to stay away from the water, I think she was inching to get in or at least get her feet wet lol!





I cannot explain how beautiful Paradise Cove is, we were absolutely over the moon with choosing this location. It suited us down to the ground and we loved that it was so private, just us and our family

Before we knew it, it was time to leave. And Ryan had to help me back into my shoes





Me, Dave, Lisa, Phil and the 5 girls got in the Hummer limo, while everyone else got in the SUV limo.









We headed to the Grand Floridian, where we had more photos. Me and the girls first!











Afterwards, me and Dave went to have some photos just the 2 of us whilst our families went to Gasparilla Island Grill to share a few counter service meals.

[DiddyDan]

After a while me and Dave were flagging a little as it was so hot outside! We went back to find our families so we could get a drink, and I think Dave had a quick snack! Whilst sat in there, one of the servers bought over a cupcake for me and Dave to say Congratulations! What a lovely gesture?!

I’d just like to say throughout the whole day so many people stopped us to say congratulations, we were so overwhelmed by how nice everyone was

We then dragged our families out into the heat and had some more family photos with the top of the castle in the background



Us and our Mums



Us, Ryan & Bethany



Us, Lisa & Phil



Us and my Mum & Dad



Us, Michelle & Jamie



Us and Dave’s Mum & Dad



Lisa showing off our Wedding bag with all our essentials in!





Then we walked over to a different spot and I had a few photos with Madison, Sydney and Kaley (Kori and Piper were asleep)!





I never noticed before, but Lisa pointed out this photo is one of the best that shows off the colour of my dress!











The sun was right in our eyes



Then it was time for Randy to go! He had been brilliant and we would thoroughly recommend him! This is the last photo he took of us!



We walked back through the Grand Floridian lobby and stopped for a few more photos





Next we made our way over to the Contemporary via the Monorail! It was so cool going on the monorail in my wedding dress! We had someone ask us if it was a private cart lol, of course we said no and let them on!

[DiddyDan]

We headed to the check in desk for the California Grill, where they let me and Dave upstairs first so we could put stuff on the tables. We got up there and I was so pleased we got the 2 tables I wanted YAY! The 2 tables for 10 with the best view of Magic Kingdom
We put out our place cards, favours and the kids goodie bags then let our server know the rest of our family could be bought up.







They arrived a couple of minutes later, and they all loved the tables and decorations We were very fortunate to be using Dining Plan credits for everyone’s meals, so we told everyone we would pay the remainder of the bill, so have a starter and alcohol if they wish and we will pay



We all ordered, I’m pretty sure most people had starters, I didn’t as I didn’t think I would manage it in my dress! I then dragged my Mum to the toilet so she could let out my dress a little lol, so I was more comfortable to eat!

The starters came and I don’t have a picture of Dave’s starter as I was in the toilet! Then the mains came, I had the chicken and Dave had the fillet of beef.





A few photos of us at dinner







We bought the girls t-shirts to wear on top of their dresses for dinner!



We ordered deserts then headed out onto the walkway where Phil took photos of us all with the castle in the background















The views from up here were just the best!







And where we’ll be staying this evening!



We headed back in and had our deserts. I had the sundae sampler and Dave had the crème brulee.





I didn’t want to leave, the sun was setting and Magic Kingdom looked beautiful!

We paid the bill then headed out. Once downstairs, my Mum went and bought some flip flops from the shop, her feet had been hurting her all day and she couldn’t last any longer in them! She had bought some flats to get changed into, but had left them in my room in the morning by accident!