Tuesday, January 27, 2015

20 Years of Magic: Reception

OK – before I get to the reception, I failed to write about one of the most awesome aspects of our ceremony.  I honestly cannot believe that I skipped over such a crucial detail!  So much to write!  

In addition to the coach, we had Major Domo be part of our ceremony!  The only person who knew about it was my mom, so she was in on the surprise.  When Renee got to the ring exchange, she asked my mom for the rings, who said she didn't have them.  The two of them did such a convincing job with little ruse that some of our guests looked genuinely concerned about the whereabouts of the rings!  After about a minute, a heralding trumpet sounded, the chapel doors opened, and Major Domo entered.  He came down the aisle and presented the rings to Renee in a glass slipper.  SOOOOOOO magical!!!!!!!!!

Here's a glimpse for now – we were taking a group picture and Renee snapped this one – you can only see the back of Major Domo, but here he is.  As if everything didn't already feel like a fairy tale!  Major Domo delivering our rings in a glass slipper was just perfection.  Thank you to Renee and my mom for orchestrating everything!


On to the reception!

We exited the coach and entered the Grand Floridian Convention Center where our family and friends were already enjoy cocktail hour out on the patio outside of Whitehall Room where are reception was being held.  The first thing we saw as we walked down the hall was something I'd been looking forward to for what seemed like forever.

Let me back up for a minute.  I've written about going to Jellyrolls on several occasions, and those who have endured my verbal trip reports would probably tell you that I talk about going to Jellyrolls an awful lot.  I love it.  There are many reasons – the staff is great, the pianists are amazing, etc. – but I have one thing that keeps me coming back.  His name is Scotty.

We first saw Scotty during a trip in June of 2003 and it was love at first sight.  Don't get any weird ideas…this is a completely innocent, yet all-encompassing MUSICAL crush.  I could just sit in a room and listen to him sing and play piano for every moment of the rest of my life.  And C feels the same way.  Before Facebook provided a place for Jellyrolls to post their calendar of who is performing each night, I would call to see if Scotty would be playing.  If he was, we went.  If he wasn't, we didn't.  Absolutely no disrespect to any of the other pianists, because as I said, they are all amazing, but Scotty is our favorite. 

So when we were planning our vow renewal, Jamie asked us what we were hoping for, and I said that my biggest wish was to have "Scotty from Jellyrolls" play at our reception.  C insists that I said my #1 wish was the coach and #2 was Scotty, but let's not split hairs.  Scotty was up there!  Jamie said she'd look into it for us and waiting to hear whether or not we could hire him was nerve-wracking.  When we finally got word that it was a done deal, I was ecstatic!

The problem was that Scotty had no idea who we were or that I'd been a ridiculous fan girl for over a decade.  When we went to WDW in early December, of course we went to Jellyrolls.  It was there that I wrote a crazy note (in red Sharpie, no less – so it would stand out) about how we were the ones who had hired him for our reception.  I was a complete lunatic trying to decide whether to take it up to his piano or not, with C strongly discouraging me in case things went south and I ended up being embarrassed by being called out in front of the crowd or something.  The pianists switch off after every hour, so I knew I only had so much time before he would leave the stage for a break.  I decided to throw caution to the wind and took the note up to his piano.  I then obsessively watched in the mirrors above the stage to see if I could tell if he had read it or not because the pianos are littered with requests scrawled on napkins and I didn't want it to get buried and lost.  When it was time for the pianists to switch, the four of them performed a song together (don't ask me what it was – I had my eye on my note the whole time), and I saw him take the note with him.  He walked off stage and toward the entrance, where he stood speaking to some friends.  I figured it was do-or-die time, so C and I went up to him and I said, "I don't mean to interrupt, but we're the ones who wrote you that note."  He immediately started chatting with us about our reception and he is just as nice of a person as I imagined he would be.  I tried to keep it together while we were talking, but inside I was like a preteen girl meeting her boy-band idol – nervous and excited and awkwardly giddy.  When we finished talking, I could not believe he'd be at our reception three weeks later.

So when we walked down the hall toward Whitehall Patio and I saw him sitting at the piano, I almost lost it.  You have to realize that I was feeling euphoric – the ceremony was done and I was ready to just have fun with family and friends.  I tried to remain somewhat dignified by not running right at him, but I did go up to him and give him a hug.  His piano playing was perfect and C and I got a lot of compliments about his performance during the cocktail hour.

We were able to enjoy the cocktail hour on the patio for only a few minutes before Jamie took us to see the room before anyone else did.  Let me say that the room was already gorgeous to begin with.  But when I saw it decorated with so many huge, colorful balloons, perfect lighting, and perfectly set tables, I was speechless.  Everything was exactly as I had hoped.  Exactly.  For linens, we had black tablecloths, rainbow rose centerpieces, and a rainbow of napkins at each table, creating a color wheel effect.  Our sweetheart table had a Paradise Falls jar on it – which was beyond perfect because I gave a similar jar to C for Valentine's Day one year and it sits on the island in our kitchen. You may also remember that we spotted a similar jar in Trader Sam's at Disneyland last year.

It was then that we saw the cake.  Love, love, love, love, love!  It was designed to be similar to Carl and Ellie's Adventure Book without looking too cartoonish.  The "spine" of the lower layer had our names and a Mickey silhouette, while the "spine" of the top layer had the words "Our Adventure Continues" on it.  And the photos on the top of the cake?  All five Disney Park castles from around the world (three of which we've been to, with the other two on our bucket list) – a nod to our love of travel and our love of Disney.  The fact that the cake was a book?  My nerd self rejoiced!  This cake was AWESOME.  I'm sorry this photo does not do it justice!  I hope I'll have a good photo to share in a few weeks.


After we oohed and ahhed over the cake, we met the DJ for the first time.  Let me admit upfront that I had not put a lot of thought into the music because I had been so obsessed with hiring Scotty.  Our DJ, Steve, had sent us paperwork to fill our regarding our music preferences, and I completely dropped the ball – we only sent everything to him the day before the reception.  That should tell you how far off my radar the music was.

Keep in mind that at this point, I was so incredibly happy that I didn't have a care in the world.  So when Steve was going over the paperwork with us, I basically told him to do whatever he wanted.  I'm so glad I just let him do his thing, because clearly he knows what he's doing and he proved to be amazingly fantastic throughout the night.  He was incredible!  Weeks later, I still have family and friends commenting on how fun he was!

After this introduction, we headed back out to the patio for a brief time with our guests before they were taken into the room for dinner.  C and I had a few minutes to actually eat something while everyone was getting settled in there and I snapped a few photos of the food cards so I would remember everything!  The Mickey-shaped mac and cheese was one of the best things I have ever eaten.  Seriously, it was so good!  I hadn't eaten much throughout the day, so I was really hungry, and I ate countless spring rolls while we were waiting.  Absolutely delicious!  As you can see, I also took pictures of some of the balloons out on the patio, which I loved so much!  During this time, we chatted with Major Domo, who asked about the readings we chose for our ceremony.  He was an incredibly sweet man and that little conversation is something I will treasure for a long time.











Finally it was time for C and I to make our entrance; we waited outside the room while inside, Major Domo announced our names to our family and friends.  The doors swung open and we got to see these wonderful people we adore so much in this amazing room and I felt completely overcome with love.  We did our first dance – and it may surprise people that it was not a Disney song – to "It's Your Love" by Tim McGraw and Faith Hill.  I am not really a fan of country music, but I am always a fan of beautiful music, and this song is just lovely.  Of all the decisions we had to make for this day, the first-dance song was probably the most difficult because we have so many songs that mean something to us for one reason or another.  And frankly, there were just too many Disney songs to choose from!

After our first dance, my brother J gave a warm welcome to everyone and then my brother G gave the toast, which was funny and heartfelt and perfect.  Have I mentioned how much I love these two?!? 

Dinner began, which was a buffet.  I haven't explicitly stated so, but all of our food, both at the Welcome Dinner and at the reception, was completely vegetarian.  And it was soooooo good!  Even our omnivore guests found everything delicious!  Once everyone had their food, a grand piano was wheeled onto the dance floor and Scotty took over.

Of course he was amazing.  Phenomenal.  Incredible.  Fabulous.  I could go on and on.  He is so talented that I don't have enough words in my vocabulary to describe how talented he is.  He played all kinds of great songs, both Disney and non-Disney, and despite the fact that I was supposed to be eating dinner, I could not help but sing along.  I like to think people followed my lead because after a few songs, the room was filled with many voices singing along and I loved every second of it.  Even though he had come with a list of songs to play, he did ask if anyone had any requests, and I as I mentioned, I love Taylor Swift, so I called out, "Shake It Off!"  Being the humble person he is, he made a comment about not knowing it very well and then he proceeded to entertain us with what is now my favorite version of "Shake It Off."  But he didn't stop there; he followed that up with one of my other favorite Taylor Swift songs, "Mean," and thought, "Is this really my life right now?  Sitting here with Scotty playing this song for me?  Does life get any better than this?"

Scotty finished up his set as people were finishing dinner and I was very sad to say goodbye to him.  I wish he could have stayed forever – but I do realize the man has a life outside of my fantasy that he sing and play piano for me for the rest of my life.

Steve was responsible for the fun for the remainder of the evening and he did not disappoint!  Soon after Scotty left, he got everyone – and I mean EVERYONE – up on the dance floor to do some fun group dances with him.  Not sure if I have said this already, but there were a total of 24 people, including the two of us – 22 adults and 2 kids – and it was a perfect number of people to still be intimate where I was able to actually speak to or dance with everyone, but a large enough group to be really fun.

My brother J and my sister-in-law R are known for their incredible swing dancing.  They are awesome together and it was a highlight of their wedding in May when they performed for everyone.  So I am not sure why I am surprised that they were also so good during these group dances!  Steve led us through a long list of dances spanning about six decades, from The Twist to Gangnam Style, and J & R nailed every single one of them and looked like they'd been doing them for years.  I was so impressed!  What you may not know about them is that they generally have quiet, thoughtful, and reserved personalities, except when they are on the dance floor.  They are beyond adorable!

After the group dance, everyone danced and mingled both in the reception room and out on the patio for a while, and then the photographers gathered everyone on the dance floor for a group photo.  Unbeknownst to our guests, this was a bit of a set-up, because it forced everyone into the room together so the doors could be closed.  I don't remember if it was Steve or Chris who said something to the effect of, "Wait!  Someone's missing!" which prompted everyone to look around at each.  Then the doors opened and in came Minnie, Mickey, and Pluto!!!!!!!!

The time with the characters was fantastic!!!  First they danced with everyone and my brother G managed to capture some very entertaining video on his phone of our dad dancing with Minnie – absolutely priceless.  And I can't tell you how great it was to see my both of our moms dancing with Mickey and my dad's wife dancing with Pluto!  I know the picture quality is not great, but I love these photos! 




After dancing with the characters, it was time for cake cutting.  Let me apologize for this next photo, because it is really not good, but the characters cut the cake with us and Mickey was hilarious pretending to call Pluto over by bending over and slapping his thighs, the way you would do with a real dog.  Very funny!  As far as the actual cake goes, one layer was yellow cake with chocolate mousse and the other layer was chocolate cake with peanut butter mousse.  It was, as I like to say, SO YUM.  Yes, this is how I typically describe delicious food!


After cake cutting, the characters went out into the hall and were available for individual and family photos.  I can't wait to see all of these photos with the characters and all these people I love so much!  Once the photos with the characters were completed, Mickey, Minnie, and Pluto unfortunately had to leave us, but the dancing and merriment continued back in the reception room!

Let me pause here and tell the story of my hair.  I mentioned that it was in a fishtail braid.  And it was rainy and humid.  This is not a good combination for my long, thick, curly hair.  Add to that all of the dancing and jumping around I was doing, and I finally had had enough with my hair making me hot.  Out came the braid and up went the hair into my go-to messy bun.  That worked for a while, but more dancing and jumping around caused my bun to loosen, and when I went to put my hair up again, the elastic snapped.  Did I have another elastic?  Nope.

My hero of the day rescued me.  One of our photographers, Dean, saw my predicament and quickly offered to go and find me a hair elastic.  I told him I was just planning on taking one of the long pieces of tulle from my skirt and using it as a ribbon to tie up my hair.  He told me he had a knife in his pocket and so he cut a piece off my skirt for me.  He saved the day and I don't know what I would have done without him!  As you can see in the photo below, the ribbon worked out very well!  Thank you, Dean!

So after much dancing and laughing and cake eating, we were all guided out to the patio for yet another surprise.  We had a view of the Holiday Wishes fireworks show in MK over Cinderella Castle!  It worked out so perfectly because they we doing special Fantasy in the Sky fireworks show at 11:50 that night to kick off their New Year's Eve celebration, so they had moved up their regular fireworks show by a few hours and it was on during our reception!  Some people might call that a coincidence, but I call it Disney Magic!

The fireworks alone would have been enough, but we also had the soundtrack piped in so we could hear the music while viewing the fireworks.  This photo of C and I is one my mom snapped with her phone while we were watching the fireworks.  I can think of only one word:  bliss.


After the fireworks, we went back into the reception room for more group dancing to wrap up the party.  Steve had everyone in a semi-circle singing and dancing and it was amazingly fun.  At one point, he asked for people who had seen "Frozen" too many times to step forward, so naturally I went to the center of the dance floor, as did my seven-year old godson, N.  What did Steve play?  Yep!  "Love is an Open Door!"  So N and I sang the duet to one another!  Could this night be any more awesome and can my godson be any more charming?!?  He knew all the words!  Love!

When Steve announced that it was time for the last dance, he had C and I start it off, and then invited everyone else to join us.  The song was "When You Wish Upon a Star" and it was the perfect choice for the last dance.

Our final surprise was that just as the song was ended we had a confetti cannon shower all of us with rainbow confetti!  Even though I knew it was going to happen, it still startled me!  I love seeing all of that confetti raining down on all of us!

And so it was time to head back to the resort, but not before our photographers gathered all of the balloons together and I snapped a photo with my phone.  To me, it looked just like the balloons from "Up" and I was deliriously happy!!!!!


Here's to the next 20 magical years!

Next post:  Disney Quilt

Happy Tails to you!


Friday, January 23, 2015

20 Years of Magic: Ceremony

 December 30

BEST.DAY.EVER.

You know the song, "Today Was a Fairytale" by Taylor Swift?  That is how I felt all day.  And yes, you can infer from that statement that I love Taylor Swift.  More on that later.

The morning was pretty quiet.  I had hired a stylist to come and do my hair and makeup, so that was fun because those of you who know me are well aware of how low maintenance I am when it comes it hair and makeup – messy bun and lip balm.  That's it.  I asked her to do a loose, Elsa-esque fishtail braid, which I loved.  However, it rained throughout the day and the humidity was not my friend.  Not that I cared…I was loving every minute so much that frizzy hair was not even on my radar.

My bouquet was delivered while I was getting my hair and makeup done, and you can see that it was just gorgeous.  The first picture was from that day, and the second was five days later, when I still could not help myself from admiring it.



And then there were my shoes, which I ordered from Etsy.  I am so in love with these shoes.  Rainbow Chucks.  I want to wear these shoes every minute for the rest of my life.


C wore Chucks, too!

The last thing I did before leaving the room was my nails…our theme was the movie Up, so I gave a nod to Kevin with my accent nail.  :-)


A few other details:

for my bouquet

C's collar stays

one for my bouquet / one for C's lapel

Mickey and Minnie with our wedding date

20 years and the Coach!

Family was getting picked up at 12:45 to take a limo over to Grand Floridian, so we had agreed to meet in the lobby of Port Orleans French Quarter at 12:40.  When I saw my two brothers, I almost lost it.  When we got married in 1994, they were only 11 and 12.  They wore tuxedos and, along with C, wore black bowties and vests covered in colorful music notes and a Mickey Mouse.  Well, those two brothers of mine found those same bowties and vests online and were wearing them to surprise me.  Seriously.  I know I say "I can't handle it" a lot.  But I can't handle it.  The thought they put into tracking down those bowties and vests completely overwhelmed me.  They are the best brothers ever. EVER.

We went over to Grand Floridian for photos in a beautiful limo…what a treat, because I can count on one hand how many times I've ridden in a limo in my lifetime.  Our photographers, Chris and Dean, met us over there and we spent a little while taking pictures.  Not going to lie...smiling is exhausting.  Of course I was happy, but after a while, my goodness!  Thankfully, Dean was hilarious and kept us entertained.

Once family photos were done, the magic really started with the arrival of Cinderella's Coach.  Not ashamed to say I'd been dreaming of riding in such a coach for as long as I can remember.  I could not resist asking C for my phone so I could take some quick pictures.  Climbing into that coach was a dream-come-true moment.

We got to ride from Grand Floridian over to the Wedding Pavilion with three attendants and six beautiful ponies while the limo took our family over to the Wedding Pavilion, then went back to Port Orleans French Quarter to pick up our friends and deliver them to the ceremony.  We soaked up every minute of that amazing ride.  We had people calling out "Congratulations" as we rode through the resort, and although I began the day a little disappointed by the weather, it turned out to be super romantic riding in Cinderella's Coach in the rain.



When we arrived at the Wedding Pavilion, everyone was already inside, so we were taken to the vestibule, where the bridal party can relax for a few moments.  We also met our awesome officiant, Renee, who came highly recommended, and with whom I had shared a very lengthy phone conversation and countless email exchanges.  It was so nice to meet her in person and we immediately loved her and felt honored she would be playing such an important role in our day.

Once it was time to get started, Jamie came to collect C and he and my two brothers waited just outside the closed chapel doors, and it was then that I experienced my very favorite moment of the day.  I was across the way in the vestibule, and I decided to peek out of the door toward them.  What I saw were my three favorite men on the face of the earth, standing together, looking incredibly handsome, ready to marry me again and stand up with us again, and I was completely overcome with love. It's funny how moments like that sneak up on you and actually take your breath away.  I called out, "I love you!" and they turned toward me and called, "Love you!" and it was a perfect moment in my life I will never forget.  I am crying as I write about it.

I waited alone for a minute or so, and then Jamie came to get me.  We waited outside the closed chapel doors until Jamie gave the organist the signal and the beautiful melody of "Married Life" from Up filled my ears as the doors opened.  I tried to take everything in, but I was too giddy.  I ended up having a flashback to my wedding day when I was so excited to get down the aisle to C that my dad whispered to me, "Slow!  Slow!" – which was appropriate then, and has also proven to be invaluable life advice.  I took a second to admire our beautiful aisle runner and then did my best to not run down the aisle to C.


The ceremony itself was perfect.  So perfect!  Renee did such a lovely, lovely, lovely job!  Of course I cried…through C's vows, through my vows, through the two readings my brothers did…so many happy tears!  We wrote our own vows, which included nods to The Office, Arrested Development, Parks and Rec, Dr. Seuss, Walt Disney, Harry Potter, and Up…so personal and sweet and funny.

These are the readings we chose:

From CAPTAIN CORELLI'S MANDOLIN
by Louis de Bernières

Love is a temporary madness,
it erupts like volcanoes and then subsides.
And when it subsides you have to make a decision.
You have to work out whether your roots have so entwined together
that it is inconceivable that you should ever part.
Because this is what love is.
Love is not breathlessness,
it is not excitement,
it is not the promulgation of eternal passion.
That is just being "in love" which any fool can do.
Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away,
and this is both an art and a fortunate accident.
Those that truly love, have roots that grow towards each other underground,
and when all the pretty blossoms have fallen from their branches,
they find that they are one tree and not two.


From A History of Love
by Nicole Krauss

Once upon a time, there was a boy.
He lived in a village that no longer exists, in a house that no longer exists,
on the edge of a field that no longer exists, where everything was discovered,
and everything was possible.
A stick could be a sword, a pebble could be a diamond, a tree, a castle.
Once upon a time, there was a boy who lived in a house across the field,
from a girl who no longer exists.
They made up a thousand games.
She was queen and he was king.
In the autumn light her hair shone like a crown.
They collected the world in small handfuls, and when the sky grew dark,
they parted with leaves in their hair.


Once upon a time there was a boy who loved a girl,

and her laughter was a question he wanted to spend his whole life answering.

We exchanged rings that are engraved with one of our favorite lines from Up:

"you and me...we're in a club now"

Once we made it official - again! - with a kiss, we turned to walk back down the aisle and to our surprise, the organist played "Baroque Hoedown," which is the theme from the Main Street Electrical Parade.  We were completely shocked – in a good way!  We had requested the recessional music to be a Disney medley, but we didn't know exactly what it would include.  This song is hands down, one of our very favorite Disney songs of all time.  It is so upbeat and happy and it fit the mood perfectly.  We'd taken about five steps when we realized what it was and we just stared at each other in disbelief.  I feel like we almost skipped out of the chapel!  Another great moment we will treasure.

We went back in so we could take a group photo and then our family and friends were ushered out of the Wedding Pavilion while we chatted with Renee before we made our grand exit back toward Cinderella's Coach.  Our family and friends had rainbow ribbon wands they waved at us, and we even heard a loud and enthusiastic "Wingardium Leviosa!" with the waving of the wands.  SO great!  I love our family!


We got to go for a quick ride in Cinderella's Coach while our family and friends were transported over to the Grand Floridian Convention Center for the cocktail hour, and then once again, C and I headed into the Wedding Pavilion for photos.  Once photos were done, we hopped back into the coach and rode over to the reception.  Along our way, we were blessed with more good wishes from complete strangers, with the most special "Congratulations" coming from Richard, who is a long-time cast member and an absolute gem.  He is in his late 80s and guests adore him.  We were so touched that he made a point of walking over to the coach as we passed the Grand Floridian, tipping his hat, and wishing us well.  Incredibly sweet.

Our ride was pure bliss, but as the saying goes, all good things must come to an end.  We were certainly sad to leave the most awesome mode of transportation we have ever experienced, but we were anxious to get to the reception to party with our family and friends!

Next post:  The Reception


Happy Tails to you!