|
 I wander over to the other side and look at the table set up. The table arrangements look lovely,
and the one Mom did for the head table looks gorgeous. It had all the white orchids in it, some champagne roses,
the rest of the rust-red roses, and lots of greenery. I start to look at the favors and table clothes and flower
petals for the rest of the tables … and am interrupted by noticing the cakes. Frank and I immediately go look at
them. They're amazing! The wedding cake is gorgeous, but frankly, I think it was outdone by the grooms cake. It
was a "Nightmare Before Christmas" cake, with rolling hills all over in a dark grayish purple and a brown
rickety fence around the edge. Of course, it had the big curl of a hill, and on top of the hill … a masterpiece:
a big yellow moon (made of white chocolate) with silhouettes of Jack and Sally painted on it. I look at the wedding
cake too, it's amazingly perfect.
We had lots of cast members showing us about and telling us what they were doing; I think they were looking for
something to do until guests came. As I was looking at the cakes I say that I need to put my bouquet down. Before
I finish saying it, one of the cast members takes it and asks me if I want it on the cake table and I say that
I want it on the head table. Later when I sit down, I notice that the bouquet has not only been set on the table,
its ribbons have been stretched across the table and looped artistically.
Guests start arriving. My husband has disappeared, so I and the cast members point the way to our signature mat.
Finally a few of us wander to the buffet and gather some food. Still no Frank. I get a plateful of mostly salads:
artichoke heart salad, heart of palm salad, tomatoes and mozzarella balls- the stuff that I love. I save room for
a few pieces of the sushi, and notice that there is squid sushi on the platter. I later confirm with Frank that
he had specifically said, no squid, no octopus. Ah well. I get some of the plainer sushi and head for our table.
I start to notice a difficulty here. I have to squeeze back to my seat in the middle of the table. I set my plate
down, and think "now I have to get a drink." Just then Ken comes up with a drink for me. I have no idea
what it was, or if I had even told him what I wanted, but whatever it was, worked. Knowing I can't get into and
out of my seat easily, I look around for Frank. Where is he? Finally, I see him rushing by with a drink. He is
waiting on his family! I give him a glare and he stops it. He finally gets his food (and I stand and wait, and
wait, and wait) and joins me at the table. (He does apologize to me later for this).
Through the reception, I decide that I don't like the head table set up AT ALL. When Frank and I decide to get
a second plate of food, Ken is there within seconds asking if he can get it for us. A kind offer, but I want to
move! And see some of the food that I've missed. For Frank and I to get out of there we had to wait until three
people on one side or the other of us had left. There was no room to walk behind the head table. This "trapped"
us for too much of the reception. I wanted the buffet reception so that people could mingle, including me!
I do try our Cheese Tortellini with Cajun Cream sauce, and love it. They haven't held back; that stuff is spicy!
I really don't remember having the Beef Tenderloin or the Mahi Mahi, but I heard great reports on it.
 The
Dapper Dans began to sing as soon as people were coming in. I can't say enough good things about them. They were
so much fun, though certainly on the silly side. They moved around the room and sang to different tables, and to
the whole group. My sister goes over and talks to them for a minute. Soon after, they go over to my Grandma Rose's
table and sing to her "Sweet Rose." She loved it so much! Ivy got up and danced with the Dapper Dans
during a song (with Michael's and Lan's encouragement - they are both quite good, actually, at spoiling kids rotten).
Another one of our guests sings barbershop and joined them for a song. They both got little cards certifying them
as guest members of the Dapper Dans; and both were equally excited over them and had to show them off ;)
The Dapper Dans also had a song they sang to the kids. They asked all the kids to come gather on the steps between
the main floor and the tables. There's only two kids, Heather and Ivy! I look at Frank questioningly. We were supposed
to have at least four more kids here. We're missing a couple families from his side. We later find out, that the
set of families traveling together had their flight come in at 3am and had stayed at an off site hotel. The timing
didn't work well with the flight and trying to get ready for the wedding.
 Between
the Dapper Dans' sets, Ken and another cast member played my Disney CDs as background music (worked wonderfully).
I had fretted before about this music option and who would be in charge of the CDs. I never thought Ken would be
doing it for us. We dance our first dance to CD Music (On the Front Porch - on the Disney Classics CD Vol. II).
I swear it's a short song, but it seemed to take forever! The quickly-learned Lavender Blue was lovely. Frank danced
with Ivy, and I danced with Michael. My sis and her husband danced too, and were silly and great fun on the floor.
I think they succeeded in a dip. Towards the end of the song, my Dad cut in and danced with me a little. Frank
and I slinked off the dance floor, quite happy to be done with the public dancing. The girls, along with Michael
and Lan continued to amuse the crowd on the next song though. For a brother and sister (Michael and Lan), they
get along wonderfully.
After the dancing and the Dapper Dans set that went with it, Frank and I both start getting antsy to go. There's
really not much more to do. I think Frank goes and talks to Ken about finishing up, because at this point we're
just getting tired. Soon after, we cut the cake. We realize how _huge_ the cake is at this point. Each layer is
two cakes tall. We get a piece out cleanly and look at it. How are we going to feed this to each other? We break
off little pieces and feed them to each other with minimal mess. We quickly decide that that is FANTASTIC cake
and feed each other second pieces. (We ordered this cake without a tasting; our original cake plans fell through.)
It was a (light!) yellow cake with raspberry and white chocolate mousse filling - a very pretty cut cake.
 They cut the rest of the cake and served it all round. Each person, whether they liked it or not,
was given a slab of each of the cakes. And I mean slab: the helpings were huge. (Perhaps they realized we had far
fewer guests than anticipated?) Many reported that they managed to eat both, and were hurting for it afterward.
Both cakes were stunningly good. The Nightmare Before Christmas cake was pure stuff chocolate inside. Yum yum yum.
I know I'm missing a champagne toast in there. We did have one, and the servers came around and filled all our
wine glasses with champagne. Michael and Diana gave the toasts … and both were surprisingly nervous. Heh heh heh.
Frank and I gave a joint toast to our parents too.
Somewhere soon after the cake time, my Aunt Pat and Uncle Larry leave to take my grandma Rose home to Daytona (long
day for my 90 year-old grandma). The Disney folks get her a wheelchair to go back to the transportation. I don't
know how they got out of there. There was only the bus left to take us back to the hotel, and I know it didn't
leave because all of us left soon after. All I can figure is that there must've been a Disney weddings vehicle
out there to get there three of them back to the Wilderness Lodge. We gathered up stuff to go. Cake tops, some
of the little favors, and two floral arrangements went with us.
Frank and I ended up with the last stragglers coming out of the Living Seas. It was half the wedding party and
a bit of family. When we came in I hadn't paid attention to people in the park (probably weren't many at the time).
But now, about 3:30, there were lots of people we got to walk through (to get backstage). We got startled looks
and more congratulations; well, that is after Michael ran away from me and pushed Frank up to walk with me. (Frank
had been pack horse, but Michael took flowers and such away from him so that Frank could walk with me.)
 We
all rode back to the Wilderness Lodge together in the bus. I really liked the bus ride together; it felt like we
were going to camp together. We arrive at the Wilderness Lodge first; and only Frank, Michael and I get off the
bus. I ask where are the other folks who have stuff here and no one else comes out. They have all gotten their
stuff out of our room. I have no idea how, but they say it's gone.
We have a pile of stuff to go with us. We give four boxes to bell service, and tell them the cake tops to go in
the freezer. Michael helps us haul the other stuff to our room, and complains about how weird it looks to have
the happy couple plus one going to the hotel room. We tell him he should've brought his video camera, the people
could figure it out. When we get to the room, indeed, there's no left over stuff from other folks there. Michael
leaves us with some hugs.
Now, the first thing on our agenda is to get me out of that dress (I'm struggling for breath at this point). Remember
the problem with this? Yep, I'm sewn into that dress. I had Frank the scissors and tell him to get me out. Now
you would think that a newlywed groom with these instructions would be right fast about it. Not my groom! I hear
careful snips, and a couple minutes later he hands me the spare bow (not a bit marred, only the sewing threads
have been cut). He slowly cuts me out of the dress, and ahhh. I can breathe!
Home
|
The
Report
Page
1
Page
2
Page
3
Page
4
Page
5
Page
6
Page
7
Picture
Index
|
We get to backstage Epcot and find more ear-mic'd helpers (Ken is with the guest and the bus). They
take the four of us up to the Living Seas. We have a few minutes before the guests will get here, so we look around
a bit. 