Wow! I haven't written in a while! I'm so sorry, but it has been BUSY! My DH is getting ready to leave for Iraq
and we drove to Venice for the 4th of July weekend.
It was really nice being in Venice! It's a perk of living in Europe, for sure!
Anyway...where was I? Oh, yes. The ceremony was over. Now bear in mind we were having a simple wedding even by Escape standards. Our only guests were BFF and her DH and DD. And we're having another wedding, so we were happy to be UTTERLY casual with this one.
Before the wedding even started they had the cake and champagne toast set up on a table near where the wedding was. It was set up in the grass just off the path to SP. There was one server and Amy was there, of course. Amy guided us through the toast and the cake (so it would look perfect for picture). They did come out nice.
After we cut the cake and my BFF gave the toast, we did our dance. This really isn't a requirement, since you're basically just dancing on the path to SP, but we did it anyway. Amy just sorta gave recommendations and asked what we wanted to do next. If you're having a more planned out wedding or more guests, think through the agenda in your head and discuss it with the WP beforehand. We didn't have time for that (nor did we really care), so it worked out.
After the dance, we asked if we could take some more pictures. The Disney photographer (can't remember his name!) was very laid back and easy to work with. I think if we had wanted to sit down and eat our cake first, he would have gladly done that. We took a couple pictures with our friends and then sat down and ate cake. We had the chocolate with amaretto mousse. I honestly didn't think it was the best. We had our planning meeting the same day as our Escape wedding (I know...I was crazy! I'll start a PJ and tell more about that) and when we tasted cakes there, I found better combinations. But, we had TONS of leftover, and Amy boxed it up for us. In fact, she had a bag of extras (the cork from the champagne, our wedding buttons and a gift). The cake was really good the next day at breakfast!
After we were done hanging out, we had ADR at Kona Cafe (more eating), so we had to get moving. We asked the photographer if we could take some pictures down on the beach. He was very agreeable. I know there is a lot of debate about the Disney Photographers on this site. The one thing I will admit is that we had to recommend the beach photos, but the end result on all of the photos was fabulous (IMHO).
So, all in all, I think the pictures are GREAT! That being said, I think I'm using the Roots for January. But, if you're having an Escape and are worried about Disney, I could try to find out who my photographer was. I'd definitely recommend him. Just pre-plan a list of what type of shots you definitely want. He came up with this one on his own.
But, DH asked for this one.
He was very flexible.
Amy walked us up to Kona Cafe to make sure they gave us the DFTW treatment and only left us after she knew we were being seated shortly.
The best part about the photography is that the next evening IN MY ROOM the hotel had delivered my album and disc with all my images on it! Talk about easy
. Yes, it's true that some of the images the photographer put in my book weren't my favorites, but it was a very good book, and it was great to show to family the next few days. It was pretty awesome! In fact, some of the images were corrupted on the disk, so they FEDEXd me a new CD TO GERMANY (where we live). It was very quick.
Here's where I should transition to the rest of our day, except that included our planning meeting for the Jan wedding. So, I think I'll stop there and start working on a PJ for January! I'll post a link on this thread, though, when I get it up and running. Let me know if y'all have any other questions.