On December 29, we had our rehearsal at the Wedding
Pavilion. We knew it would be quick
because we had one goal for our entire event:
simple and fun! We met our wedding planner Jamie
there and did a run-through of who would be where and the order in which things
would happen.
We had asked my two brothers to each do a reading for us
during our vow renewal, so they came to the rehearsal with us, but it was
actually at the rehearsal in the Wedding Pavilion that we made a last-minute
decision for them to walk down the aisle and stand with us once again. I am not quite sure why I didn't think about
this before! Thankfully they agreed, in
spite of my apparent lunacy.
After the rehearsal, we went over to the Boardwalk resort for
what I was calling our "Welcome Dinner."
It wasn't really a rehearsal dinner, but rather a chance for everyone to
meet and relax. It was held in The
Attic, which is a beautiful room with a huge patio that overlooks the water and
the boardwalk. It also happens to be right above Jellyrolls, which is pretty convenient! When we arrived, almost
everyone was there (two friends were flying in later that night) and I was
overwhelmed seeing these people that I loved so much all in one room. It is not lost on me how much effort it took
to travel so far at holiday time to celebrate with us.
We had our photographers for the Welcome Dinner, and I loved
getting to know them over the course of the evening. They were really great about interacting with
our guests and I'm sure grew tired of my constant question, "Did you get a
photo of that?" (My inner control freak is hard to combat sometimes.)
The food was amazing!
We were going for a "fiesta" theme, so we had make-your-own
fajitas, chips, fresh salsa, a guacamole station, and Mickey Mouse
quesadillas. Everything was so good! For dessert, we had Mickey Mouse cupcakes,
which were as delicious as they were beautiful.
And I am not sure how many Shirley Temples the bartender had to make for
my godkids, but it seemed like a LOT. We ended up eating out on the patio because the weather was
gorgeous and as with everything at WDW, the service was impeccable.
I had decided to do our "favors" at the Welcome
Dinner so I wouldn't have to worry about getting things over to the Grand
Floridian Convention Center the next day. So our
guests left the welcome dinner with personalized Mickey Mouse hats, a Mickey
Mouse caramel apple, an Up-themed tote bag filled with snacks to take to the
parks, and personalized buttons we had made for our event.
After dinner, some people headed to the parks (one nice
thing about being at WDW during busy times is that the parks are generally open
pretty late), some decided to call it a night, and others – including us – went
to Jellyrolls for the remainder of the evening.
And I do mean remainder…we ended up staying until 2 am.
All of our centerpieces were colorful gerbera daisies, and we were encouraged to take the flowers with us when we left. So we decided to have my godkids hand out the bouquets to random people around the hotel after we finished dinner. We tried to choose people who looked like they would appreciate being given flowers from adorable seven-year olds (typically older ladies) and the smiles and thank yous we received were priceless!
Next post: The Ceremony
Happy Tails to you!
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