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 Mickey wakes me up at 5:30 am and the alarm clock reinforces the idea. We've gotten a Junior Suite
at the Wilderness Lodge. It was the LAST room on the main floor. (Frank and I laughed over this many times walking
down those halls … it felt like we were in a bad movie. The same doorways kept passing us over and over again,
and we were getting nowhere.) The room is gorgeous; plenty of room for all of our people and stuff. Last night,
Ivy (my daughter), Heather (cousin's daughter, and bridesmaid), and I stayed in the room (oh, here's a cast
of characters, in case you don't know everyone ;). The girls had stayed up late talking; I had stayed up late
laying things out and getting things ready (well, after the trip to the bar downstairs where the folks had gathered).
Suprisingly enough, the alarm clock+Mickey works. I'm up and in the shower in no time. The girls are solidly asleep
and I don't bother them. I organize everything again, and put on a button-down shirt and shorts. At five till 6:00
I wake up the girls and hand them cereal bars and bottles of water. I start the coffee maker (one of the little
ones that makes four cups), when it's finished I start gulping my cup down, along with the recommended dose of
two aspirin.
The Disney cosmetologists call me at 6:05; they're at the front desk and had to get my room number. I know I have
plenty of time before they get here. Heather and Ivy get dressed in button down shirts. It takes the cosmetologists
at least five minutes to get to my room. There are 3 of them, each dragging along a flight-attendant-type carry
on. They proceed to very efficiently clear the main room and set up chairs (they've quite evidently done this before).
They clear spots for curling irons and stuff.
 Within
a few minutes they're working on Ivy's, Heather's, and my hair. I tell the ladies that whatever the girls ask for
is fine, just put the tiaras in their hair some way or another. Both girls had tiny tiaras I got at Claire's. On
my hair, I just tell them that I want it down, but still enough hair up to show off my tiara. The rest I leave
up to them. They ask curly or straight, I go with curly.
About halfway through my hair I hear a "mommy look." I turn around and am astonished. They've turned
my little girl into a princess! My daughter has no more than chin-length very straight hair. They've managed to
pile it up behind the tiara with curls cascading down everywhere. I look at Heather and she is similarly decked
out. Wow they look good!
Soon after the girls are finished, Frank's mom and grandma come in. They get started with hair, and they go on
to my makeup (somewhere in here I get a look at my hair: it's lovely. But mine is not nearly as cute as the girl's
updo's. ;)
About the time they finish with my makeup I get a call from my mom in the lobby. Mom has stayed up late the night
before to finish up the flowers for the reception, and the boutonnieres. (I had managed to do the five bouquets
yesterday for the bridesmaids and myself in about five hours. In about the same amount of time she finished up
the flower favors, made 5 or 6 table arrangements, and 7 boutonnieres.) I tell her to just put the flowers on a
luggage cart; the girls and I will come get them. So, the three of us in our tiaras and shorts walk the long walk
up to the lobby. We meet up with my sister, Diana, on the way. She gets one luggage cart of flowers and we get
the second one.
 I leave the flowers beside the door to our room, consolidate much of it to
one cart, and bring the boutonnieres inside and set them next to the rings. I also bring in the bouquets for the
mothers/grandmothers. It's all of 7:30 am by this time. Mom comes in and I give her aspirin, caffeine and a back
rub (soft beds at the All Stars hurt her back the night before).
Mom gets her hair done/fluffed. Diana and Lan get a bit of fluffing and their sparkly little barrettes put in (which
are to match the jr. bridesmaid's tiaras, without forcing them to wear tiaras). I grab bouquets and start tying
bows on. Very easy to do, but I have to ask each bridesmaid which color she likes, and the same for the mothers.
A note on the bouquets: I had originally intended to have a bouquet of mixed reds. Diana, in a red dress, would
have bridal white and champagne roses. The other bridesmaids would have red roses to set off Diana's dress better.
After seeing the champagne roses I changed my mind. I made my bouquet purely out of them (off white in a beige
direction). Diana got the bridal white roses (off white with a touch of pale pink). The Jr. bridesmaids, in black
and royal blue got the deep red and bright red roses, respectively. Lan had surprised me with a tan dress (we were
thinking she'd come up with black) when I'm putting the roses together. That dress gives me a perfect opportunity
to use the Leonides roses I wouldn't have found a place for otherwise; they are dark rust red within the petals
and beige on the outside. Perfect match! She gets those roses with a couple of champagne roses mixed in. (I think
I liked her bouquet best ;)
Then I get to get dressed (T-45 minutes). I pull on my underthings and then of course I have to come out of the
bathroom into the gathering of Frank's mom, grandma and my mother for the dress. Mom helps me into the dress and
fishes my shoes out from under a chair (I'm useless by that point) and I slip them on. Looks good so far!
 Next is the necklace. It's a two piece: a 9-strand choker and a 3 strand necklace. I again have
mom put these on me. I'm unsure about the choker after she puts it on … it is so tight. I say to leave it
a minute, and if I can't stand it we'll take it off. (The choker was made for my neck and was supposed to fit …
and boy, did it). While we're looking at this, mom notices my zipper is separating. ::sigh:: Not entirely unexpected.
I have the scissors, thread and needle handy. She starts sewing me into the dress and I try to figure out how long
I can stand up without passing out in that choker and my corset. Mom takes very little time to sew me from shoulders
to waist, a good bit above and below the separation. Done. It's 15 till 9 and we're ALL ready. I sit down and think
about the corset and choker some more. I'll be fine, the choker is either stretching a bit or I'm getting used
to it.
The photographers arrive at a few minutes till 9. I stand up and Frank's mom gasps. Damn zipper has blown again
… this time at the base, under the waist. Mom complains that this part is not sewing as well as the other. It's
not coming together evenly. She asks if she can steal a bow from the bottom of the dress. I say go for it, and
she steals a bow and sews it over top the patched seam. I take a look at it in the mirror and rather like it …
it now has two bows put together just below my waist instead of the original one bow.
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