Monday, August 5th, part 3
After the ceremony, I really wanted a moment alone with Andy, but that wasnt going to happen yet. First, we had to take a TON of photos. Randy was so good, setting us up for the shots, and joking me out of the glazed eye look I kept getting from all the smiling and posing. Stan got a kick out of me videotaping Andy getting his picture taken, during one of my rare breaks from the camera, so he got some footage of that. We took quite a few pictures with our families, then they went outside and we took more pictures inside with just the two of us. It seems like we were taking pictures forever! We went outside, took a few more in front of the pavilion, then our families started cheering and we walked past them for the staged exit, while they threw rose petals at us. Andys dad was so funny, he kept on cheering!
Then they were all shuttled away to the cake cutting reception, while Andy and I had our pictures taken at Picture Point.
Lynn very apologetically told us that the event taking place on Commanders Terrace (this was the event with the boombox) had run overtime, and they werent ready to set up for our wedding. She wanted to know if it would be okay to have the pictures inside the GF, at the entrance to Citricos and Victoria & Alberts. An air conditioned reception? Of course! I felt bad that Lynn kept apologizing; we thought that the way it turned out was much better than the Commanders Terrace would have been, since it was kind of hot that day. The heat was very bearable, only really feeling hot when wed been outside posing for a while, but I kept thinking that Andy would be really hot in that tuxedo.
Lynn pulled me into Francks, so she could bustle my dress, then we got into the limousine and rode over to our reception at the Citricos entrance!
When we got there, our guests were waiting in the GF lobby. We took still MORE photos, in the landau coach outside the GF, and posing by the vintage car. Lynn went up the stairs, to make sure that everything was set with the reception spot, while we rode up the elevator. She had our guests enter first, then got them to cheer when we came in.
We walked behind the cake table, and posed for a few more shots there. The big metallic Citricos swirls behind us look amazing in Randys photos! That was a fantastic location!
Lee (my brother & the best man) gave a toast at the reception. He hadnt planned anything, but someone (Lynn? Stan? Randy?) asked him to say something, so he stood up by us and said a few words. He just spoke briefly about how Andy & I were made for each other and he knew wed have a long, happy life together. It was very sweet. Then they asked Andy to say a few words, and he hadnt planned anything either! He gave a really long toast, about 2 minutes, and when it was finished, I asked him if he was now an employee of the Walt Disney Company. It was so funny he was thanking everyone for coming, and then started saying how special Disney was to us, and how glad he was that they were there with us, and how he hoped theyd return again and again to vacation at WDW, hehehe. Then he thanked my parents for me, which was really sweet, and finally it was time for us to cut the cake. They just positioned our hands over the knife and had us cut through it. I know we made such a mess of it! Then the waiter, LeRoy, took the knife and cut small pieces for us to feed each other. Side note Lee & Lindsay liked LeRoy so much that they gave him a tip at the end of the reception. I think he must have been joking around with them, or something, but they really seemed to like him.
I was so glad that Andy didnt smash the cake into me! He was so nice, and put it into my mouth neatly, then afterwards he wiped a little bit of the icing off the corner of my mouth. Randy got a cute shot of that, too!
After the toasts and the cake cutting, we sat down and were served cake. We had 3 tables of 4 one for the parents, one for just me & Andy, and one for Lee, Lindsay, Peter & Julie. It was so nice, getting to sit and quietly talk to Andy for a while. The cake was a chocolate cake, with a raspberry mousse filling and buttercream icing. I thought that the icing was really rich, and once again, it was just more food that I wasnt used to eating! The cake was nice and moist, though, not too dry, and the filling was good and pretty light.
Then we looked at Andys watch, and it was 2:00 and time for Randy to go. Oh, no, we hadnt taken photos on the beach yet! We asked Randy if he minded running out and getting a few shots, and he said not at all, so we went out to the beach, while the rest of the guests headed to the Garden View Lounge for afternoon tea.
We got to the Garden View Lounge at about 2:15, and were all seated at 2 tables one for the 4 parents, and a table of 6 for the rest of us. The parents joked that they were at the old folks table, but they were fine with it. Andys dad kept my parents laughing, and my mom actually behaved herself and even spoke to me a few times!
If we had it to do over, we would have left out the afternoon tea. We had to leave the cake reception early to get there at 2:15 we would much rather have stayed and finished our cake and champagne. It was so relaxing in the lobby of Citricos.
We both agreed afterwards that the tea was overkill. We didnt know that people would be full after the cake reception. Since we had a noon wedding, we thought people would be hungry from having missed lunch, and we wanted to give them something light to eat besides cake. All of the men except my dad had the Prince Edwards tea, and all of the women except for Andys mom had the Buckingham Palace tea. This was one of the first few disappointing experiences at Disney. Weve been to afternoon tea at a few places in London, and thought the Grand Floridian would be more like that, but it wasnt at all. Instead of the bread being soft, it was very dry, and there was an orange paste that they put on almost all of the sandwiches. The duck liver was also disappointing. And in England, they serve the tea on a 3 tiered tray, so that you have sandwiches at the bottom, scones in the middle, and pastries on top. The Garden View Lounge just handed out each course on regular plates, so that we had to wait in between each course of the tea. At that point, we were so tired, and were ready for the afternoon break. We left the tea as soon as the bill was paid, because Andy was really sleepy and wanted a nap. My brothers, Lindsay & Julie just hung out around the GF grounds, and the parents stayed at the tea, finished their port, and then took the monorail to Epcot so that my parents could see the park (theyd only been to the Bass Pro Shops, not the parks!).
I dont regret doing the tea, and it wasnt an unpleasant experience, but it seemed like it added nothing at all to the evening. We were so tired that we probably would have been happier to just relax a bit longer at our cake cutting, then separate for the break before the dinner.
Andy and I went up to the room, and talked and exchanged our letters. We had written letters to each other, before we were married, so we exchanged those as well as our gifts to each other. Oh, I forgot to say, Andy had given part of my gift to his parents to drive down to Orlando, and they left it in Virginia! He was disappointed, but he gave me the smallest part of the gift, a Wedding Pavilion pin, and I gave him his gift, which was a watch with 3 dials and a little Mickey head on the face. Andys gift to me should be coming in the mail from his parents, in the next day or two.
Then we took a nap, which was much needed, since neither one of us got more than 3 ½ hours of sleep the night before! Andy is going to write the recaps of his night and morning, so hopefully Ill have those soon, to add to this.
We woke up at 6:00, got back into wedding gear, and were downstairs to meet our guests at 6:30. We didnt tell any of them where our reception was, since we wanted it to be a surprise, so all they knew was that they had to meet us in the lobby of the GF at 6:30. Andys parents are the big Disney experts, and they were convinced that it would be at Narcoossees, so when we took them upstairs to Victoria & Alberts, they were really shocked! We had dropped off the seating chart & Cinderella slipper placecard holders with the maitre d on Saturday afternoon, so the table was all set up with the placecard holders, and they looked really good!
The private room was beautiful, even though it was a little warm with the fireplace going. We sat down, and they gave us the menus with each persons name written on them, and we placed our orders. Here is the menu for that night Ive tried to separate each course with a space. There were a total of 6 courses, not including the amuse bouche
:
Amuse bouche with Fairy tale cuvee toast
Roasted Chioga Beet Salad with Walnuts, Cucumbers, and Mache, Sherry Cucumber Vinaigrette
Smoked Buffalo with Heirloom Tomatoes, Hearts of Palm and Balsamic
Yellowtail Snapper Almondine over French Beans and Yellow Wax Beans
Muscovy Duck Breast with Root Vegetables, Peaches, Foie Gras, and Applewood Bacon Vinaigrette
Free Range Chicken Consomme
Tomato Mascarpone Cream
Alaskan Sable over German Butterball Potatoes and Brentwood Corn
Poussin Oscar with Lump Crab, Italian Cous Cous, Red Rice and Sauce Bernaise
Grilled Prime Filet over Cauliflower-Potato Puree and Cabernet Jus
Jamison Farm Lamb with Wild Mushroom Cannelloni , Truffle Emulsion
Taleggio, Passendale and Great Hill Blue with Burgundy Poached Pear
Terrine of Sorbet with Seasonal Fruits
Pyramid of Tanzani Chocolate Mousse with Strawberries
Warm Pineapple in a Crepe Purse
Hawaiian Kona Chocolate Souffle
Caramelized Banana Gateau
Vanilla Bean Crème Brulee
Grand Marnier Souffle
We could each select one choice, from each of the 6 courses, and then everyone got the same amuse bouche. We got our amuse bouche, and I realized that once again, I was going to be sick to my stomach! So I went to the bathroom, and came back a while later. I tried to eat a little bread, and that didnt help, so I went back to the bathroom, this time with Lindsays help to fasten me into the dress (I got out of it completely). Then I came back to the V&As room. Meanwhile, time is passing, and Im sorry that I cant give a great recap of the dinner. I told them to please just go on with the courses, without me, since I wouldnt be able to enjoy them anyway. It was really warm in the room from the fireplace, and the corset top was keeping me from taking deep breaths, so that was making me feel ill.
Everyone at the table felt so bad that I was sick, and they kept making suggestions like, Drink water to calm your stomach. Dont drink water it will upset your stomach. Have some soup to calm your stomach. Dont have the soup its too rich for your stomach. Hehehe, everyone was really nice about it, and didnt seem to mind that the bride was ill at her own reception, except for them being worried about me. We finally decided that, as much as I loved being in my dress, I should change into something less constricting and would probably feel better when I could take deep breaths again. So I went upstairs with Julie to change into the dress I planned on wearing to the Chefs Table on Wednesday. I was so glad we had that room at the GF, so that I could do things like that!
I put on my other dress, and was really disappointed when I came downstairs again, b/c I didnt feel like a bride any more. But my brother Peter was nice and told me that with that dress on, I looked like a Grecian princess (it had a draping cowl neckline and was sleeveless), so that made me feel better to look like some sort of princess still, at least! And I still had on the tiara with my hair up, which was nice.
I quickly started feeling better after that, so that I could eat some of my monkfish when it came, and then ate the rest of the courses after that. I think I am possibly the only person, though, who has ever left V&As still hungry! I was starving when we were watching fireworks, and I felt like something savoury not sweet, so I didnt eat the chocolate covered strawberries.
We LOVED having the private room at V&As. Besides being a beautiful space, it was nice being in our own room. Both our families were a little quiet at first, intimidated by the luxuriousness, but then really got into it. By the time dessert came around, Lindsay was walking around the table taking a taste from everyones plate, and I dont think we could have been that relaxed if wed been out in the main dining room. Our Victoria, Erma, was GREAT she was funny, and played along with Andys dad. Manuel, the maitre d that night, was great he took care of every little thing. And our guests all loved the coffee that brewed up instead of down.
All of our guests were absolutely blown away by the food, which is saying a lot, since my brother Lee has cooked in some really nice restaurants, and Peter and Lindsay have both been in the restaurant industry, so theyre quite discerning when it comes to food. The desserts really floored them; they loved the design silkscreened onto the chocolate mousse pyramid, and Lee couldnt stop raving about the crème brulee.
We ran a little overtime with dinner, thanks to me being sick and people trying to wait for me, so we didnt get to the yacht until 9:50, instead of 9:30. We had Manuel at V&As call and let them know we were running late. We had to order 40 chocolate covered strawberries at V&As, to meet the meal minimum, so we carried those with us in boxes when we left. We had asked Carianne to have them boxed, not served with dinner. The yacht, too, was a surprise for our guests, so we walked them out to the marina, and they were shocked when we started boarding the yacht. Andys dad just kept saying, Oh, my gosh! over and over again.
It was a beautiful, perfect night! It wasnt too cool, so we didnt need sweaters, but there was a breeze blowing, just cool enough to keep us comfortable. The temperature was great! We rode out onto the lake, and I think this may have been everyones favorite part of the evening. My dad & brothers, the Bass Pro fans, were so happy to be on a boat. We all crawled around to the front of the boat and sat out there. There was one padded seat for two, so I sat down and had Andys dad sit next to me. Andy, meanwhile, was walking around filming everything. I knew he wouldnt sit down, when he had the digital video camera there to play with!
We had the chocolate covered strawberries there, and we had also arranged with Patricia at Private Dining, to have flat and sparkling water on the yacht for our guests, in case anyone got thirsty. We didnt want more alcohol felt like wed been poured full of it all day!
We drove around for a little while, then the fireworks were starting! The drivers got us a perfect position, right up front, and we could hear the accompanying music from the Magic Kingdom. Then Tinkerbell flew, which amazed my family yet again, and fireworks started exploding in the sky. The music was beautiful, the fireworks were beautiful, I sat there with tears in my eyes, loving every moment and enjoying it all. Andys dad and I kept saying that the fireworks were bursting in the shape of hearts, even though they werent really, but they could have been if wed stretched our imagination a little farther! Andys parents go to Disney World every year, so we really wanted to do something different for them, that theyd never experienced before, and V&As private room and the yacht during fireworks were definitely perfect. His dad kept saying over and over again how he was absolutely floored and how perfect everything was, and his mom didnt say much of anything, b/c she kept crying! (Hopefully happy tears!)
Then the fireworks were over, but we drove around to the Wilderness Lodge and watched the Electrical Water Parade. We sat right in front of it, and it seemed like the show was just for us. It was all truly beautiful and perfect and magical; I cant even begin to find the words to describe it. I wouldnt have changed a single thing about the evening. Even me being sick wasnt bad, because I was so happy that I didnt care!
We got back to the hotel, and since I was feeling better, I wanted to change back into my gown for Andy and I to take a talk along the GF beach, after everyone left. We said goodbye to our families, and then I went into the room to change. Andys dad knocked on the door, and when I said he could come in, he came to me and said, Im only going to say this once, because otherwise Ill start to cry. Thank you for loving our son. And then he gave me a hug. I burst into tears, and he hurried out of the room. It meant so much to me, especially since he doesnt say that kind of thing often. It was the best finish to our wedding day. We said goodbye to everyone, and at that point, I had my second wind, and was kind of bouncing around. My mom said I was just like a Chihuahua, with so much energy. Before everyone left, I gave them all hugs and told them how much we both loved them.
Then I changed back into my wedding gown, and Andy and I walked along the beach together, and sat down in one of the beach chairs. It was so nice, having a quiet moment with him at the end of the day, and we kept marveling that now we were husband and wife, as well as best friends and lovers. I kept saying that I was Mrs. Wright, trying to get used to it! Then we walked back to the room, and ended our most beautiful day.
After the ceremony, I really wanted a moment alone with Andy, but that wasnt going to happen yet. First, we had to take a TON of photos. Randy was so good, setting us up for the shots, and joking me out of the glazed eye look I kept getting from all the smiling and posing. Stan got a kick out of me videotaping Andy getting his picture taken, during one of my rare breaks from the camera, so he got some footage of that. We took quite a few pictures with our families, then they went outside and we took more pictures inside with just the two of us. It seems like we were taking pictures forever! We went outside, took a few more in front of the pavilion, then our families started cheering and we walked past them for the staged exit, while they threw rose petals at us. Andys dad was so funny, he kept on cheering!
Then they were all shuttled away to the cake cutting reception, while Andy and I had our pictures taken at Picture Point.
Lynn very apologetically told us that the event taking place on Commanders Terrace (this was the event with the boombox) had run overtime, and they werent ready to set up for our wedding. She wanted to know if it would be okay to have the pictures inside the GF, at the entrance to Citricos and Victoria & Alberts. An air conditioned reception? Of course! I felt bad that Lynn kept apologizing; we thought that the way it turned out was much better than the Commanders Terrace would have been, since it was kind of hot that day. The heat was very bearable, only really feeling hot when wed been outside posing for a while, but I kept thinking that Andy would be really hot in that tuxedo.
Lynn pulled me into Francks, so she could bustle my dress, then we got into the limousine and rode over to our reception at the Citricos entrance!
When we got there, our guests were waiting in the GF lobby. We took still MORE photos, in the landau coach outside the GF, and posing by the vintage car. Lynn went up the stairs, to make sure that everything was set with the reception spot, while we rode up the elevator. She had our guests enter first, then got them to cheer when we came in.
We walked behind the cake table, and posed for a few more shots there. The big metallic Citricos swirls behind us look amazing in Randys photos! That was a fantastic location!
Lee (my brother & the best man) gave a toast at the reception. He hadnt planned anything, but someone (Lynn? Stan? Randy?) asked him to say something, so he stood up by us and said a few words. He just spoke briefly about how Andy & I were made for each other and he knew wed have a long, happy life together. It was very sweet. Then they asked Andy to say a few words, and he hadnt planned anything either! He gave a really long toast, about 2 minutes, and when it was finished, I asked him if he was now an employee of the Walt Disney Company. It was so funny he was thanking everyone for coming, and then started saying how special Disney was to us, and how glad he was that they were there with us, and how he hoped theyd return again and again to vacation at WDW, hehehe. Then he thanked my parents for me, which was really sweet, and finally it was time for us to cut the cake. They just positioned our hands over the knife and had us cut through it. I know we made such a mess of it! Then the waiter, LeRoy, took the knife and cut small pieces for us to feed each other. Side note Lee & Lindsay liked LeRoy so much that they gave him a tip at the end of the reception. I think he must have been joking around with them, or something, but they really seemed to like him.
I was so glad that Andy didnt smash the cake into me! He was so nice, and put it into my mouth neatly, then afterwards he wiped a little bit of the icing off the corner of my mouth. Randy got a cute shot of that, too!
After the toasts and the cake cutting, we sat down and were served cake. We had 3 tables of 4 one for the parents, one for just me & Andy, and one for Lee, Lindsay, Peter & Julie. It was so nice, getting to sit and quietly talk to Andy for a while. The cake was a chocolate cake, with a raspberry mousse filling and buttercream icing. I thought that the icing was really rich, and once again, it was just more food that I wasnt used to eating! The cake was nice and moist, though, not too dry, and the filling was good and pretty light.
Then we looked at Andys watch, and it was 2:00 and time for Randy to go. Oh, no, we hadnt taken photos on the beach yet! We asked Randy if he minded running out and getting a few shots, and he said not at all, so we went out to the beach, while the rest of the guests headed to the Garden View Lounge for afternoon tea.
We got to the Garden View Lounge at about 2:15, and were all seated at 2 tables one for the 4 parents, and a table of 6 for the rest of us. The parents joked that they were at the old folks table, but they were fine with it. Andys dad kept my parents laughing, and my mom actually behaved herself and even spoke to me a few times!
If we had it to do over, we would have left out the afternoon tea. We had to leave the cake reception early to get there at 2:15 we would much rather have stayed and finished our cake and champagne. It was so relaxing in the lobby of Citricos.
We both agreed afterwards that the tea was overkill. We didnt know that people would be full after the cake reception. Since we had a noon wedding, we thought people would be hungry from having missed lunch, and we wanted to give them something light to eat besides cake. All of the men except my dad had the Prince Edwards tea, and all of the women except for Andys mom had the Buckingham Palace tea. This was one of the first few disappointing experiences at Disney. Weve been to afternoon tea at a few places in London, and thought the Grand Floridian would be more like that, but it wasnt at all. Instead of the bread being soft, it was very dry, and there was an orange paste that they put on almost all of the sandwiches. The duck liver was also disappointing. And in England, they serve the tea on a 3 tiered tray, so that you have sandwiches at the bottom, scones in the middle, and pastries on top. The Garden View Lounge just handed out each course on regular plates, so that we had to wait in between each course of the tea. At that point, we were so tired, and were ready for the afternoon break. We left the tea as soon as the bill was paid, because Andy was really sleepy and wanted a nap. My brothers, Lindsay & Julie just hung out around the GF grounds, and the parents stayed at the tea, finished their port, and then took the monorail to Epcot so that my parents could see the park (theyd only been to the Bass Pro Shops, not the parks!).
I dont regret doing the tea, and it wasnt an unpleasant experience, but it seemed like it added nothing at all to the evening. We were so tired that we probably would have been happier to just relax a bit longer at our cake cutting, then separate for the break before the dinner.
Andy and I went up to the room, and talked and exchanged our letters. We had written letters to each other, before we were married, so we exchanged those as well as our gifts to each other. Oh, I forgot to say, Andy had given part of my gift to his parents to drive down to Orlando, and they left it in Virginia! He was disappointed, but he gave me the smallest part of the gift, a Wedding Pavilion pin, and I gave him his gift, which was a watch with 3 dials and a little Mickey head on the face. Andys gift to me should be coming in the mail from his parents, in the next day or two.
Then we took a nap, which was much needed, since neither one of us got more than 3 ½ hours of sleep the night before! Andy is going to write the recaps of his night and morning, so hopefully Ill have those soon, to add to this.
We woke up at 6:00, got back into wedding gear, and were downstairs to meet our guests at 6:30. We didnt tell any of them where our reception was, since we wanted it to be a surprise, so all they knew was that they had to meet us in the lobby of the GF at 6:30. Andys parents are the big Disney experts, and they were convinced that it would be at Narcoossees, so when we took them upstairs to Victoria & Alberts, they were really shocked! We had dropped off the seating chart & Cinderella slipper placecard holders with the maitre d on Saturday afternoon, so the table was all set up with the placecard holders, and they looked really good!
The private room was beautiful, even though it was a little warm with the fireplace going. We sat down, and they gave us the menus with each persons name written on them, and we placed our orders. Here is the menu for that night Ive tried to separate each course with a space. There were a total of 6 courses, not including the amuse bouche
:
Amuse bouche with Fairy tale cuvee toast
Roasted Chioga Beet Salad with Walnuts, Cucumbers, and Mache, Sherry Cucumber Vinaigrette
Smoked Buffalo with Heirloom Tomatoes, Hearts of Palm and Balsamic
Yellowtail Snapper Almondine over French Beans and Yellow Wax Beans
Muscovy Duck Breast with Root Vegetables, Peaches, Foie Gras, and Applewood Bacon Vinaigrette
Free Range Chicken Consomme
Tomato Mascarpone Cream
Alaskan Sable over German Butterball Potatoes and Brentwood Corn
Poussin Oscar with Lump Crab, Italian Cous Cous, Red Rice and Sauce Bernaise
Grilled Prime Filet over Cauliflower-Potato Puree and Cabernet Jus
Jamison Farm Lamb with Wild Mushroom Cannelloni , Truffle Emulsion
Taleggio, Passendale and Great Hill Blue with Burgundy Poached Pear
Terrine of Sorbet with Seasonal Fruits
Pyramid of Tanzani Chocolate Mousse with Strawberries
Warm Pineapple in a Crepe Purse
Hawaiian Kona Chocolate Souffle
Caramelized Banana Gateau
Vanilla Bean Crème Brulee
Grand Marnier Souffle
We could each select one choice, from each of the 6 courses, and then everyone got the same amuse bouche. We got our amuse bouche, and I realized that once again, I was going to be sick to my stomach! So I went to the bathroom, and came back a while later. I tried to eat a little bread, and that didnt help, so I went back to the bathroom, this time with Lindsays help to fasten me into the dress (I got out of it completely). Then I came back to the V&As room. Meanwhile, time is passing, and Im sorry that I cant give a great recap of the dinner. I told them to please just go on with the courses, without me, since I wouldnt be able to enjoy them anyway. It was really warm in the room from the fireplace, and the corset top was keeping me from taking deep breaths, so that was making me feel ill.
Everyone at the table felt so bad that I was sick, and they kept making suggestions like, Drink water to calm your stomach. Dont drink water it will upset your stomach. Have some soup to calm your stomach. Dont have the soup its too rich for your stomach. Hehehe, everyone was really nice about it, and didnt seem to mind that the bride was ill at her own reception, except for them being worried about me. We finally decided that, as much as I loved being in my dress, I should change into something less constricting and would probably feel better when I could take deep breaths again. So I went upstairs with Julie to change into the dress I planned on wearing to the Chefs Table on Wednesday. I was so glad we had that room at the GF, so that I could do things like that!
I put on my other dress, and was really disappointed when I came downstairs again, b/c I didnt feel like a bride any more. But my brother Peter was nice and told me that with that dress on, I looked like a Grecian princess (it had a draping cowl neckline and was sleeveless), so that made me feel better to look like some sort of princess still, at least! And I still had on the tiara with my hair up, which was nice.
I quickly started feeling better after that, so that I could eat some of my monkfish when it came, and then ate the rest of the courses after that. I think I am possibly the only person, though, who has ever left V&As still hungry! I was starving when we were watching fireworks, and I felt like something savoury not sweet, so I didnt eat the chocolate covered strawberries.
We LOVED having the private room at V&As. Besides being a beautiful space, it was nice being in our own room. Both our families were a little quiet at first, intimidated by the luxuriousness, but then really got into it. By the time dessert came around, Lindsay was walking around the table taking a taste from everyones plate, and I dont think we could have been that relaxed if wed been out in the main dining room. Our Victoria, Erma, was GREAT she was funny, and played along with Andys dad. Manuel, the maitre d that night, was great he took care of every little thing. And our guests all loved the coffee that brewed up instead of down.
All of our guests were absolutely blown away by the food, which is saying a lot, since my brother Lee has cooked in some really nice restaurants, and Peter and Lindsay have both been in the restaurant industry, so theyre quite discerning when it comes to food. The desserts really floored them; they loved the design silkscreened onto the chocolate mousse pyramid, and Lee couldnt stop raving about the crème brulee.
We ran a little overtime with dinner, thanks to me being sick and people trying to wait for me, so we didnt get to the yacht until 9:50, instead of 9:30. We had Manuel at V&As call and let them know we were running late. We had to order 40 chocolate covered strawberries at V&As, to meet the meal minimum, so we carried those with us in boxes when we left. We had asked Carianne to have them boxed, not served with dinner. The yacht, too, was a surprise for our guests, so we walked them out to the marina, and they were shocked when we started boarding the yacht. Andys dad just kept saying, Oh, my gosh! over and over again.
It was a beautiful, perfect night! It wasnt too cool, so we didnt need sweaters, but there was a breeze blowing, just cool enough to keep us comfortable. The temperature was great! We rode out onto the lake, and I think this may have been everyones favorite part of the evening. My dad & brothers, the Bass Pro fans, were so happy to be on a boat. We all crawled around to the front of the boat and sat out there. There was one padded seat for two, so I sat down and had Andys dad sit next to me. Andy, meanwhile, was walking around filming everything. I knew he wouldnt sit down, when he had the digital video camera there to play with!
We had the chocolate covered strawberries there, and we had also arranged with Patricia at Private Dining, to have flat and sparkling water on the yacht for our guests, in case anyone got thirsty. We didnt want more alcohol felt like wed been poured full of it all day!
We drove around for a little while, then the fireworks were starting! The drivers got us a perfect position, right up front, and we could hear the accompanying music from the Magic Kingdom. Then Tinkerbell flew, which amazed my family yet again, and fireworks started exploding in the sky. The music was beautiful, the fireworks were beautiful, I sat there with tears in my eyes, loving every moment and enjoying it all. Andys dad and I kept saying that the fireworks were bursting in the shape of hearts, even though they werent really, but they could have been if wed stretched our imagination a little farther! Andys parents go to Disney World every year, so we really wanted to do something different for them, that theyd never experienced before, and V&As private room and the yacht during fireworks were definitely perfect. His dad kept saying over and over again how he was absolutely floored and how perfect everything was, and his mom didnt say much of anything, b/c she kept crying! (Hopefully happy tears!)
Then the fireworks were over, but we drove around to the Wilderness Lodge and watched the Electrical Water Parade. We sat right in front of it, and it seemed like the show was just for us. It was all truly beautiful and perfect and magical; I cant even begin to find the words to describe it. I wouldnt have changed a single thing about the evening. Even me being sick wasnt bad, because I was so happy that I didnt care!
We got back to the hotel, and since I was feeling better, I wanted to change back into my gown for Andy and I to take a talk along the GF beach, after everyone left. We said goodbye to our families, and then I went into the room to change. Andys dad knocked on the door, and when I said he could come in, he came to me and said, Im only going to say this once, because otherwise Ill start to cry. Thank you for loving our son. And then he gave me a hug. I burst into tears, and he hurried out of the room. It meant so much to me, especially since he doesnt say that kind of thing often. It was the best finish to our wedding day. We said goodbye to everyone, and at that point, I had my second wind, and was kind of bouncing around. My mom said I was just like a Chihuahua, with so much energy. Before everyone left, I gave them all hugs and told them how much we both loved them.
Then I changed back into my wedding gown, and Andy and I walked along the beach together, and sat down in one of the beach chairs. It was so nice, having a quiet moment with him at the end of the day, and we kept marveling that now we were husband and wife, as well as best friends and lovers. I kept saying that I was Mrs. Wright, trying to get used to it! Then we walked back to the room, and ended our most beautiful day.
However, reading your re-caps while at work was a very bad idea! I'm sitting here wiping away the tears! I saw the photos you posted over at Disneymooners and you were such a beautiful bride!
