Amanda & Jeff 12/7/15 - YCG/Marina/Ariel's/France - Update 10/25: Napa Rose Chefs Counter!

December 7th - Wedding Day! - Part 10

At around 6:30, DJ Elliot announced that it was time for cake cutting!



There was a hidden Mickey on the back of our cake!





It was a lot more difficult to cut than I thought!



DJ Elliot played "Married Life" from the movie Up during the cake cutting.



Then it was time to feed each other! To which I said, “Um, there are no forks. Where are the forks?” And then I was told that we were supposed to use our fingers. Skeptical.



That is my “smush cake in my face and we are getting a divorce” face.



It was weirdly difficult to feed someone and eat at the same time.



I love how unimpressed all our guests look.

After we cut the cake, we all kind of stood around unsure of what to do next. DJ Elliot reminded everyone that it would take a while to get the cake cut and on the tables, so he played more music to dance to.



I told everyone that my only dance move was to spin my big dress around in circles. So they copied me.



My friend’s daughter and I slow danced to a Backstreet Boys medley.



The Roots captured these gems:





Then DJ Elliot played Soul Man by the Blues Brothers, and this happened…









Yup.

Soon we realized that cake was at the tables, so we sat down to eat some. The Roots came over to us for our official Root Selfies!





While we were eating cake, it turned 7:00, so Trinity said goodbye to us and headed out. We still had the Roots until 8:00 though.

After cake, there was more dancing!







Don’t Stop Believing:





Jon and some of our other guests realized that there were people walking by Ariel’s, so they started to sing to them. And then Jensey went over to get some photos of it.





Pretty sure the song here is Living on a Prayer.





In the next update: our grand confetti finale!
 
December 7th - Wedding Day! - Part 11

Before we knew it, our reception was almost over, and it was time for our final dance. I'm not sure if it was DJ Elliot or the Roots, it was decided that we were going to do a semi-choreographed dance where everyone was in a circle around us.



Oh, and Nate was in the circle with us too. DJ Elliot picked the song, “I’ve Had the Time of My Life.” Elliot gave everyone instructions on the different dance moves he wanted them to do. Then, periodically, he’d tell everyone to hold hands and move inward, toward us.



We got some amazing pictures out of it!







Jensey was above, taking photos of Nate taking photos of us!



And then the confetti cannons went off!





I’m so glad we kept the confetti cannon!



After our final dance, DJ Elliot directed everyone to leave the dancefloor except for Jeff and I. He played one final song for just the two of us to dance to, “So Close” from Enchanted.



He even intercepted my mom as she tried to bother us on the dancefloor. He told her we just needed two minutes to dance, and then we could rejoin the group. This was also super convenient because all of our guests were able to get their things and get organized and ready to go to Epcot for our dessert party.

Meanwhile, Jeff and I got to spend a quiet moment together. And the Roots got these photos.



I love the way the confetti looks on the ground.







And then that was it!

We took a selfie with DJ Elliot.



(That is the last of the Root photos! So sad!)



And Elliot took a photo of us with the Roots.



And then we got ready to head to our dessert party!
 
I Love So Close from Enchanted. Great choice for a last dance song. What a sweet moment. OMG I am so excited for Enchanted 2:dogdance:
 
I Love So Close from Enchanted. Great choice for a last dance song. What a sweet moment. OMG I am so excited for Enchanted 2:dogdance:

Elliot chose the song! But I agree that it was great! It was an amazing moment together after the hectic-ness of the reception.
 


December 7th - Wedding Day! - Part 12

After our final dance, we met with our event guide and our guests in the hallway outside Ariel’s to get ready to head to Epcot! We didn’t have any transportation, so we all walked to Epcot from the Beach Club. The event guide was super nice and did a great job keeping our whole group together.

We walked over to the International Gateway, and we had to wait outside the entrance for a little bit. I think Rachel’s group was entering first, and they could only send one group through at a time. I was exhausted, so I took a seat on a nearby bench.





Note how my friends have jackets on. It was pretty cold at night, but I was still so warm from all the dancing that I was okay without a jacket for a while.

Soon we were given the okay to head inside Epcot. All our guests had to go through bag check, and then we were guided to France lower. Right away, I headed to the buffet!

Excuse the cell phone quality photos, but we had Oreo bon bons:



Chocolate fondue with graham crackers, pretzels, marshmallows, pound cake, and fruit:





Mini cronuts:



And strawberry marshmallow macaroons:



The macaroons were supposed to be like the ones at Flower and Garden last year (which I later found out were actually macarons). They weren’t exactly alike, but they were still delicious!

Once I grabbed a plate, I made a beeline toward a front and center table and sat down. One thing I wish I would have done when planning was push for 100% seating for the dessert party. I guess Disney usually only does 60% seating during dessert parties because people are supposed to be walking around and mingling. But we had just come from a dance-heavy reception, and everyone wanted to sit. Some people sat on the concrete ledge on the back side of the area, since we didn’t have enough chairs for everyone.

Meanwhile, I was too exhausted to get out of my chair and get a drink, so Jon got me a hot chocolate and a water. And I was too tired to move, so I was lucky enough that our friends kind of rotated around me to talk.



We didn't pay for any decor at the dessert party, so we ended up with standard black linens and plastic chairs. But Disney did put a cute little glow cube centerpiece on each table!

During our dessert party, several people left our area to get food and drinks from around the World Showcase. I’m not sure if that’s something that they always allow during dessert parties, but they didn’t mind people coming in and out with stuff. One of my friends left and came back with a pear cider for me, I think from the UK pavilion.

There was one almost-crisis while we were at our dessert party. I realized that I didn’t have my wallet, and I was pretty sure I left it in Ariel’s. Then another of our guests realized that she didn’t have her wallet either and also thought it was in Ariel’s. So I frantically called Janice to tell her. Turns out that Haley had my wallet the whole time because she knew I would forget it, but while they were searching Ariel’s, they did find the wallet of our other guest. Crisis averted!

The dessert party was pretty long. We were there for about an hour before IllumiNations started. I didn’t mind because I was enjoying the time talking to my friends, but my mom thinks it was too long and people were getting tired. Either way, everyone was excited when IllumiNations started.



You can see Jeff and I down on the bottom left. Jeff was taking this photo:



After IllumiNations ended, we all rounded up and headed back out the International Gateway. Then we announced to our guests that we were planning on meeting at Jellyrolls in about thirty minutes. And then we walked back to the Beach Club, saying goodbye to our guests as some of them left. At some point, we decided to meet in Martha’s Vineyard instead of Jellyrolls, to have a more relaxed “after party.” Before we headed back to our room to change, we took a couple pictures outside the Beach Club.





The guys thought I looked funny in my leather jacket and wedding dress. But I had gotten cold and needed it!

Then we separated from our group. Leah, Jeff, and I headed back to our room to change and fill out the rest of the marriage license, while the rest of the people who were staying around headed to Martha’s Vineyard. Around this time, I got a text from three of our friends saying they were waiting at Jellyrolls. Jeff had told me that he told everyone that we changed our plans, but he forgot to tell those three! I let them know about the new plan, and thankfully they hadn’t ordered anything yet and headed back to the Beach Club.

Back at the room, we took a selfie before we changed.



Then Leah helped me take off my dress, and I changed into my bride t-shirt, bride Mickey ears, and jeans. Leah filled out the rest of the marriage license with her information, and then she said goodbye and headed home.

In the room, there was another mini-crisis, where I thought that all of our cards/gifts were missing. Thankfully, after calling Janice (a true lifesaver for answering her phone hours after the reception ended), I found out that my mom had them in her room. Once that crisis was resolved, Jeff and I headed down to Martha’s Vineyard. On the way, we ran into some of our wedding party in the lobby! It was so fun randomly running into people we knew at the Beach Club while we were there.

I was finally hungry, for the first time all day, so Jeff went to the Marketplace to get me a flatbread pizza. I went to Martha’s Vineyard to meet with our friends and family. We hung out for a couple hours, I think. A friend of mine bought me a white sangria, and we all chatted until it was last call. Once the bar closed, we figured it was time for us to head back to the room. It had been a long and amazing day.

We got back to the room and went through the little insta-photos that the Roots gave us one more time.



Then we went through our cards. Well, I did, while Jeff tried his hardest to stay awake while I read them out loud. He was so tired from all the dancing! Once I finished reading them, I put them away, and we went to sleep. Our wedding day was over.

I can’t believe I finished this part of the trip report. Honestly, I can’t even believe we really had the Disney wedding that I planned for so long. It kind of feels like a dream. I hope you all enjoyed all the updates! And if you did, stay tuned, I still have the whole honeymoon left to recap! :goodvibes
 
Sad your wedding recap is over! I enjoyed hearing about it! Weird, I felt like we were waiting a long time at international gateway too. I didn't realize only one group could be let in at one time. Desserts look yummy. So funny we both had cronuts and oreo bon bons. How were they?? I didn't get to try either of those two desserts.
 


Sad your wedding recap is over! I enjoyed hearing about it! Weird, I felt like we were waiting a long time at international gateway too. I didn't realize only one group could be let in at one time. Desserts look yummy. So funny we both had cronuts and oreo bon bons. How were they?? I didn't get to try either of those two desserts.

I'm sad it's over too! The cronuts were a little hard, but the Oreo bon bons were awesome!

joining in

Thanks for following along! :)
 
Thank you for sharing your amazing day with us - your photos are amazing and I loved every second of it! I'm so glad you're still going to recap your honeymoon!!
 
That moment when the confetti is bursting behind you looks so candid and happy - so since I'm late in the game on this PJ, congrats!!!
 
Thank you so much for sharing your perfect day with us! I've really really enjoyed reading it excited for the honeymoon now yay!! Hope you're enjoying married life xxxxxx
 
Thank you for sharing your amazing day with us - your photos are amazing and I loved every second of it! I'm so glad you're still going to recap your honeymoon!!

Thanks for reading! I can't wait to recap the honeymoon. I hope I haven't forgotten too many honeymoon details!

That moment when the confetti is bursting behind you looks so candid and happy - so since I'm late in the game on this PJ, congrats!!!

Thank you! I love the confetti cannon photos. They were so worth the money for the cannon.

Thank you so much for sharing your perfect day with us! I've really really enjoyed reading it excited for the honeymoon now yay!! Hope you're enjoying married life xxxxxx

Thanks for following along! Married life is great so far!
 
Hello! Jeff and I just returned yesterday from an awesome cruise to the Bahamas on the Disney Wonder.



Picture by Jeff!

Ah, I love cruises! While on board, we booked another cruise, on the Disney Fantasy, for our first anniversary! After having to cancel our honeymoon cruise on the Fantasy, I am really really hoping that we will be able to make this one work.

Speaking of honeymoon, now that the wedding part of the trip report is over, it's time for the honeymoon! But first, we had one overlap day between the wedding day and the honeymoon actually beginning. It's not a very eventful update, but it will give you an idea of our timeline.

December 8th - Post-Wedding and Pre-Honeymoon

When we were planning on sailing on the Disney Fantasy for our honeymoon, we were going to leave on December 12th. This was going to give us several days to pack and get ready for our honeymoon after the wedding. But if you've been following along for a while, you'll know that our plans changed, and we ended up going to Disneyland for our honeymoon. When I went to book the flights, the way that things fell, it was significantly cheaper to leave the morning of December 9th. So we had one day to enjoy the Beach Club, check out, say goodbye to everyone, unpack from the wedding, pack for the honeymoon, and maybe try to get a few hours of sleep before having to leave for the airport.

Jeff woke up before me on the 8th because he was spending the day in the parks with his family. My family is local and was more interested in resort time, but his out-of-state family, understandably, wanted to do some park time. So on our first married day, Jeff took his family to Epcot while I slept late in our room at the Beach Club.

When I woke up, I went up to the room where my parents and sister were staying and brought some leftover wedding cake for breakfast. We talked about how great the wedding was and munched on some cake. It was approaching check out time, so I went back to my room and quickly moved all of our things into Jeff's parents' room, who weren't checking out until the following day. Then my sister and I headed to the pool.

For some reason, I have no photos of this day at all. But I can tell you that it was beautiful weather but not terribly warm, so my sister and I enjoyed the hot tub but only spent about 30 seconds in the actual pool. Soon we were getting hungry, but Jeff texted me to wait for him and his family to get lunch.

Samantha and I headed back to Jeff's parents' room to wait for them to return from the parks. Once we all reunited, we spent what felt like a million years trying to decide what to eat. Eventually we decided on the ESPN Club. In my opinion, the ESPN Club isn't particularly special in any way like a lot of other Disney restaurants, but I've still always had a good experience there.

After eating our late lunch, we decided that we ought to head home to get some things done before our trip. So we sadly left the Beach Club and headed to run a few errands. At around 6 pm, I headed to a local salon to get my hair cut before the honeymoon. I had been growing it for the wedding, but I was ready to cut it off!

After almost an hour after my appointment time at the salon, I was still waiting. At that point, the manager of the salon approaches me to tell me that one of her stylists had a family emergency, so there was only one person cutting hair for the rest of the night. She offered me a discount if I continued to wait, but I was in a rush because Jeff and I had to take his brother to the airport at 8. Thankfully, I was able to find another salon that was able to take me as a walk-in and do a quick haircut, since I didn't need anything too fancy.

Before:



After:



Then we drove Jon to the airport. After saying our goodbyes to him, I still wasn't ready for the wedding time to end. So we headed back to the Yacht and Beach Club to spend a little more time with Jeff's parents and do a little shopping. We got a couple of magnets, as well as this picture of the Yacht Club that shows the gazebo.



It was starting to get really late, and we still hadn't packed at all for Disneyland. So we headed home at around 10 pm, stopped at Burger King for a to-go dinner, and then started packing. If I remember correctly, we finally went to bed around midnight with our alarms set for 3 am. Our flight to California was the next morning at 6 am.

Sorry if this was a little bit of a boring update. I promise the next one will be better because we will have made it to DISNEYLAND!
 
First of all, YAY FANTASY CRUISE!!! I'm glad you'll eventually get to take your Fantasy Honeymoon.

I love your perspective of the in between day as a local. So funny that you guys spent so much of your first married day apart, but when you think about it, it really does make sense considering your family-in-law (had to ;) ) is from out of town.

Can't wait for Disneyland at Christmas!!!
 
We were also talking about an anniversary cruise since I can get a week of work off before the wedding, not after. Since ours is a destination wedding, maybe the cruise will be more special a year later?

Hope you guys have a blast at Disneyland!
 
While on board, we booked another cruise, on the Disney Fantasy, for our first anniversary!

Yay for booking the cruise you wanted!! If you have any interest in the additional services of a travel agent for your Fantasy cruise, I would be able to take over your reservation, free of charge. Would love to be able to help you out! If you have any questions, shoot me an email at mworkman@themouseexperts.com. No worries if you aren't interested. ;)

I got a good chuckle out of the irony of you being in California while I was in Florida. I'm only about 20 minutes from Disneyland and would have said we should meet up! We arrived in Florida a couple days before your wedding, but I knew how busy you were going to be so I didn't say anything.
 
First of all, YAY FANTASY CRUISE!!! I'm glad you'll eventually get to take your Fantasy Honeymoon.

I love your perspective of the in between day as a local. So funny that you guys spent so much of your first married day apart, but when you think about it, it really does make sense considering your family-in-law (had to ;) ) is from out of town.

Can't wait for Disneyland at Christmas!!!

I hope we are able to make this Fantasy trip work. We are also looking into a trip to Asia, so we'll have to see how everything works out. But eventually I will get on the Fantasy!

And haha yes, most people, I assume, would be like, "MARRIED DAY," and we were like, "Got to go to the bank and the grocery store."

We were also talking about an anniversary cruise since I can get a week of work off before the wedding, not after. Since ours is a destination wedding, maybe the cruise will be more special a year later?

Hope you guys have a blast at Disneyland!

Cruises are always special! You should totally do one for your anniversary! Disneyland was awesome. I can't wait to start the recap!

Yay for booking the cruise you wanted!! If you have any interest in the additional services of a travel agent for your Fantasy cruise, I would be able to take over your reservation, free of charge. Would love to be able to help you out! If you have any questions, shoot me an email at mworkman@themouseexperts.com. No worries if you aren't interested. ;)

I got a good chuckle out of the irony of you being in California while I was in Florida. I'm only about 20 minutes from Disneyland and would have said we should meet up! We arrived in Florida a couple days before your wedding, but I knew how busy you were going to be so I didn't say anything.

Sounds like we switched places! Hope Florida treated you well. It was awesome weather while you were here.
 
December 9th - First Day in Disneyland!

Before I start day one of our honeymoon trip report, I have to show you what I got in the mail yesterday. A couple of months ago, on one of the Facebook groups, I heard about this company called Bellabeads. They turn the flower petals from your wedding bouquet into jewelry. At the time, I still had my bouquet sitting in the fridge because I wasn't ready to throw it away. So I sent some of the petals to Bellabeads. Two months later, I got this!



It fits my Pandora bracelet, and it's an awesome reminder of my bouquet (which I have since thrown away). I highly recommend them! It was such an affordable alternative to bouquet preservation, which was nowhere near being in my budget.

But anyway, back to the trip report! :)

We woke up on Wednesday, December 9th at around 3 am to do some last minute packing. We said goodbye to our kitty (Haley was catsitting) and headed out the door around 3:30. After stopping at Burger King (yum, Crossaintwich), we parked in our usual off site airport parking and took a short shuttle ride to MCO.

I downloaded Mindy Kaling's new book onto my Kindle while we waited to board our plane. And soon we were on our way! We had a short layover in Houston and then got on another plane that would take us to California!



Ha, some of these photos are from Snapchat, hence the filters.

We had actually checked a bag on this flight, which we almost never do, so we waited for a bit at baggage claim to get it. Then we headed outside to the Super Shuttle. I do wish that Disneyland had Disney’s Magical Express, but Super Shuttle is pretty good too. Lucky for us, there was a shuttle boarding right when we walked up that was heading to the Grand Californian! We got right on and headed to Disneyland!



Basically all of these photos are from my phone, and this one was taken from a moving shuttle. So sorry about the photo quality!

After a short ride on the Super Shuttle, we arrived at the Grand Californian, and I put on my bride ears and Just Married button!



We had the sweetest Cast Member checking us in, but despite my begging, they didn’t have any club level upgrades available. She did ask us if we would prefer a theme park view room or a king bed room, though. We chose theme park view, because priorities.

The Grand Californian during the holidays is amazing. Also, Jeff’s pictures are way better than mine, so you get them instead.







We left our bags at bell services and, starving, headed to find something to eat for lunch at Downtown Disney. Being a big Via Napoli fan, I decided on Napolini. For those of you who have not made a trip to the west coast, Disneyland’s Downtown Disney has a restaurant called Naples, owned by the same company that runs the restaurants in Epcot’s Italy pavilion. Attached to Naples is a small quick service section called Napolini, where they sell their pizza by the slice. So good! Seriously, Florida’s Disney Springs needs a Napolini.

After stuffing our faces with delicious pizza, we decided to head into Disney California Adventure, via the park entrance inside the Grand Californian. I know that there are a lot of off site hotels within walking distance of the Disneyland Resort, but there is really something to be said about being able to walk directly into DCA from the Grand Californian! So cool!

For Disneyland’s 60th anniversary, they have a bunch of postcard-style photo locations. Immediately upon entering DCA, we stopped at one in Grizzly Peak and took a few silly pictures.







We barely made it out of Grizzly Peak when I got a text saying that our room in the Grand Californian was ready. We decided that since we were still so close to the exit back into the resort, we would go check out the room before heading further into the park.

We had an fourth floor room that felt like it was at the end of the longest hallway. Still, it was so cool to see DCA from our balcony!



Not all of the theme park view rooms face DCA head on, so I’m not sure that I would go out of my way to get a theme park view again. That said, I did really enjoy being able to see Mickey’s Fun Wheel out the window.

After getting our bags from bell services and unpacking a bit, we headed back into DCA. I was in the mood for a snack, so we stopped at Clarabelle’s for ice cream.

At Clarabelle’s you can make your own ice cream bar. Well, I mean, the cast members make it, but you choose what flavors and toppings you want. For Christmas, they had a candy cane topping, so I knew what I wanted.



Then we headed to Cars Land to get there in time for the Sh-Boom.



At sunset in Cars Land, the song Sh-Boom comes on, and all the neon turns on one by one, just like in the movie. This is part of the reason that we used Sh-Boom as our recessional song in the wedding. Well, turns out that during Christmastime, the neon lighting happens to a non-Sh-Boom Christmas song. Oh well, still nice!

Oh, PS, Cars Land at Christmastime is amazing. Also, again, Jeff’s pictures are way better than mine.









Cars Land is an extremely immersive land, and their Christmas decor is no exception.



Next, we decided to head to Paradise Pier to see Viva Navidad, a special street party they have during the holidays.



We LOVED Viva Navidad. We probably saw it three more times during our trip. The dancing, the floats, it was all awesome.

We were getting hungry, so I decided to get some sopes from the nearby Viva Navidad food location.



I Googled “how to eat sopes” and then decided to just eat them with my hands. We watched the mariachi band and ate, and soon we heard an announcement that the Pixar Play Parade would start in a few minutes. So we walked over outside the eating area (I think it’s called Paradise Gardens?) and got a great parade spot.



Selfie with Mater

After the parade, still thinking about Mater, we decided to ride his ride! We love Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree. It looks like a kid’s ride, but it is SO fun.

Then we park hopped over to Disneyland to ride a few things. We rode Matterhorn and Winnie the Pooh, which I had never ridden before, since both were under refurbishment the last time we visited.



Soon I was feeling exhausted. It was pretty late on the west coast, which meant it was even later on the east coast, where I had woken up at 3 am that morning. We headed back to our resort to head to sleep.

When we opened the door, we saw this:



So sweet!

And then we headed to bed to get some rest before another magical day!
 
Yay! Disneyland! Your post is making me miss Disneyland SO much, but SO excited for us to go on our honeymoon, which will also be in December and we also plan to stay at the Grand Californian. I can't wait to see all the Christmas décor at Disneyland, especially at Cars Land!
 
Yay! Disneyland! Your post is making me miss Disneyland SO much, but SO excited for us to go on our honeymoon, which will also be in December and we also plan to stay at the Grand Californian. I can't wait to see all the Christmas décor at Disneyland, especially at Cars Land!

Yay, you are going to love it! Have you stayed at the Grand Californian before? It was our first time at a Disneyland hotel, and we loved it! We used the EMH mornings and loved the entrance right into DCA!
 

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