Our Wedding in Photos

Welcome to another wedding week post! Today I'm going to talk about our actual wedding day. I'm not gonna lie, I love talking about our wedding because I thought it was fabulous. So let me walk you through our day with some of my favorite photos.

The guys took photos first over at the Grand Floridian. They actually had to hide in 1900 Park Fare so I could be brought into the hotel after taking photos in the lobby. I think my favorite out of all of them though is this shot of them walking over to the Wedding Pavilion. 

While the guys were taking their photos outside we started our photos inside the hotel. I have never felt more amazing or gorgeous in any other outfit I have ever owned. The moment that dress and veil were on me I felt like a princess. I love this photo of me and the girls, we were all laughing the entire time.

After photos we all headed to the Wedding Pavilion. Scott and his guys were inside the main building while me and the girls were in the bride's vestibule. They have the music pipped into the back room so you could hear when everything was happening. 

I didn't start getting nervous until only my Dad and I were left in the bride's room. It was in that moment that it finally hit me. The moment the doors opened I didn't see the gorgeous flowers that lined the aisle, I didn't see any of our guests, I only saw Scott. It wasn't until 5 minutes into the ceremony that I even noticed there were flowers in the room. This photo really showcases how beautiful the pavilion was.

I loved the music from our wedding. Our mothers walked in to "The Rose", which is one of my Mom's favorite songs. The guys walked in to "A Gift of Thistle" which is from the movie Braveheart. We couldn't think of a song for them and then one of our wedding planners played it and we loved it. The girls walked in to "Clair de Lune". I cannot fully express my love of this song and my hatred of the fact that it became popular because a sparkly vampire played it on piano (lame). As a cute little surprise we had my niece, who was the flower girl, walk in to "It's a Small World". It was so adorable! Before I walked in the bells chimed to 5 (since it was 5 pm) and then the organist started "Trumpet Voluntary". I wish I had some amazing story behind why I chose this, but truly, I'm not a fan of "Here comes the Bride", and I've always loved this song. When we lit our unity candle we played "All I Ask of You" from Phantom of the Opera. I get goose bumps just thinking of this song. We walked out to "Hornpipe" another favorite of mine. After the wedding party was out, the organist played the music from the Main Street Electrical Parade. Since Scott and I worked together on Main Street we thought this was perfect!

I also want to share our readings. It took us some time to pick out just the right readings. For our first reading we chose Ruth 1:16-17, which is hands down my favorite verse. My Godmother read this reading, and this was the only time I cried the entire ceremony. 

But Ruth said, "Do not urge me to leave you or turn back from following you; for where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God. "Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. Thus may the LORD do to me, and worse, if anything but death parts you and me."

Our second reading was one of the classics, 1 Corinthians 13: 1-8 13. My brother Chris did this reading. 

 If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.  If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing. Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous ; love does not brag and is not arrogant,  does not act unbecomingly ; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered,  does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth ;  bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.  Love never fails ; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away ; if there are tongues, they will cease ; if there is knowledge, it will be done away. 

 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Our third (Gospel) reading was John 15: 12-13; 16-17:

This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you. There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit-fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. This is my command: Love each other.

Each reading was perfect for us and the ceremony. 

Our ceremony was long by Disney standards, but I wouldn't change it at all. I loved what our minister had to say, and I want to share one part of it (I wish I could upload the video of it, but for real that's a whole lot of effort right now). When we were in our premarital counseling our minister told us about the Meeting of the Waters. It's when the Rio Negro meets the Amazon. The Rio Negro is black and the Amazon is a sandy color. At this one point the two rivers meet and mix, at that moment you cannot separate the two, they will always be connected, and you cannot tell where one meets and the other ends. We feel in love with this story and asked him to use it in his sermon. 

Aside from the beauty of the story, the black and white aspect of the story is perfect for a wedding.  The bride in white and the groom in black, just like the two rivers. The best man even incorporated this story into his toast, suggesting that I was the Missouri and Scott was...well...the muddy Mississippi. 

After the ceremony we took all of our "formal" photos. Scott and I really didn't want formal photos to be the focus of our wedding photos. Of all of the photos that were taken, this is hands down my favorite. I have it in a sepia tone framed in the family room. 

The time between the ceremony and the reception was the best. It was a nice quiet ride with Scott to EPCOT and we were able to hang out in a room before having to see everyone. It's nice to have that moment with your new husband without having to focus on anyone else. While we were enjoying our quiet time, all of our guests were on the Isola in Italy enjoying cocktails and appetizers. Keeping the location there was a last minute decision since storm clouds were looming. I'm glad we didn't move it inside, because it was gorgeous. Well, at least I think it was, I wasn't there. I wish I had a photo to share, but alas there are none, just video.

We had our reception at The American Adventure in EPCOT. The room on its own is absolutely breathtaking and did not need a lot of enhancements. Wasn't it gorgeous?!

After introductions we had our first dance and then the best man and maid of honor did their toasts. 

Harley was Scott's best man, they've known each other since Scott was a sophomore in high school. 

Kristin was my maid of honor, we've been friends since her grandfather knocked on my dorm door and said I had to meet his twin granddaughters down the hall.  She also won bonus points with all of the fraternity brothers for toasting with a beer can.

Scott and I spent most of dinner visiting all of the tables, we were able to sit down as the main course was being served.  We served Caesar salad, Raspberry Sorbet, and a duo plate of filet and chicken. 'Twas delicious.

One of the first "dances" after dinner was to Piano Man. I can't really go into detail on this song and its significance, except to say it's a fraternity thing. Scott and his brothers from Chi Phi (along with us ladies who are with them) all sang and danced to it. This was my first of many Piano Man experiences.

After that I had my dance with my Dad. We danced to Tony Bennett's version of "The Way You Look Tonight".  It took me forever to decide on a song to dance with my Dad to. All of the traditional father/daughter songs sounded corny to me, and I kept hearing this song and knew. I specifically chose the Tony Bennett version because of a story my Dad told me when he and my Mom went to visit my brother at school. They were walking down the hall and Tony Bennett was walking past them, my Dad being my Dad yelled, "Ay Ton-ay!".  It was perfect.

The dancing was full on after this. Scott and his friends were line dancing and we all "danced" to our favorite 80's tunes, all while not dropping a single drink on the dance floor. I was most impressed with that. 

I was kind of obsessed with our cake. It was so simple, and yet, amazing.  We had three different flavors of cake. I can't remember what the bottom and top layers were, but the middle layer was chocolate with peanut butter mousse inside. It was like eating a peanut butter cup.

We did the bouquet after the cake, and not so surprisingly the lucky lady that caught it, Bonnie, actually was married two years later. The garter toss was far more entertaining. Scott was on edge all day that my brothers were going to do something. He forgot about my Dad. When Scott went to get the garter he asked Harley to watch my brothers, well out of left field he comes my Dad. My brothers followed closely behind and Scott paid them off. Apparently the going rate for me is $60. 

My nephew, Alex, caught the garter. Also, no drinks were spilled, another victory.  

The next tradition was a family tradition. In most Polish and/or Croatian families, the mother of the bride removes her daughters veil and then places an apron around her waist with babies on it (it sounds messed up wearing an apron with babies on it, but it's really a sweet tradition).  My Mom did it at her wedding and I knew I wanted to do it at mine. My Mom's apron had 6 babies on it and she went on to have 6 kids. She wouldn't tell me how many babies were on mine until I saw it that night. Mine also had 6 babies. I'm not using that as a goal though. I think Scott's expression sums it up.

The rest of the night was perfect. Lots of dancing, lots of laughs, and time that went by far too quickly.

Before we knew it, our wedding planner was ushering us out of the American Adventure and over to the pier to get on Breathless.  We were trying to decide how we wanted to leave the reception and we knew we didn't just want to get into a town car and drive to the Boardwalk. Scott remembered the boat Breathless, it was Walt's boat.  Our wedding planner was just as excited as we were about leaving this way, he said he didn't know of anyone else doing it. Sold!

Trying to get in this boat though while wearing a wedding dress is a site to see. Then the driver had to push the boat from the dock and jump onto it. It was like James Bond. 

We buzzed past our wedding guests a few times and then took a nice boat ride through the resort areas. The driver said he was going to make a scene before docking at the Boardwalk and even though I begged him not to, he did. He made a huge scene. If you have ever been to the Boardwalk, I'm sure you know how busy it is on a Saturday night. 

We only spent a few hours in our room at the Boardwalk because we were taking photos the next morning at the Magic Kingdom. 

Our whole day was amazing and people still talk about it. I cannot tell you how lucky I am to have met and married my best friend and husband at Disney. It really is the stuff dreams are made of!