When we got to our room, Jason and i finally had a chance to relax!! We ordered room service for lunch, I was starving!! We waited for our food and watched the wedding video. While Jason got to see the entire processional live, I had missed all of it because I was back stage! I was floored at how beautiful it all was and I cried, of course.
Our room service came and we chowed down! I had the 1/3 angus cheeseburger and Jason had the club sandwich, yum!
We spent the afternoon relaxing and talking about how fabulous everything was. I think we watched the wedding video a second time and I fell asleep at some point. I got up around 6PM and we got ready for our Illuminations Dessert Party!! We went down to the lobby at 6:50PM and the lobby was even busier than before. People parted ways for us again and one mother said to her daughter, "look honey, it's a princess bride!". I waved at the daughter and she just looked at me in awe like kids do the first time they meet Cinderella. It made me all teary, once again!
I was so happy to see that our sedan was already there 10 mins early so we hopped in. Our driver, Bruce, was really great. We drove to backstage EPCOT! We saw so many cool things! Test track extends out into the backstage area a bit. We saw a Maelstrom boat by the side of the road! Of course, no pictures are allowed backstage so I didn't even try.
Finally we arrived at France which was where we would enter the park to be escorted to UK Lochside. Our escort, Jamie, was so great! We arrived before our guests so we got out of the sedan and stood around waiting for a few minutes. Jamie chatted us up about our wedding and dessert party. Finally our guests arrived! About half of our guests opted for the private transportation and half met us in EPCOT at UK Lochside. Jamie opened the doors and we were in France! The instant I was in EPCOT in my wedding dress I got all teary. People were staring at us and pointing as we all entered into France from backstage. I felt like a movie star!
And then we got to walk from France to the UK! I know many of your know the route well and it was so magical being able to walk it in my wedding dress. People applauded as we walked by and I heard the princess comment many more times! Sigh, walking across the bridge in my wedding dress is just something I'll never forget. I remember looking at Spaceship Earth as I have so many times before thinking "Is this really real??". I wish we had taken more pictures and video :(
We were early so Jamie took us over to watch the English Channel rock show in the UK. I miss the british invasion but the new band was rockin. They all waved to us! It was so magical. We got to watch quite a bit of the show before it was time for us to get to our dessert party!
When we got to UK Lochside they were still setting up so we hung out for a minute while one of the escorts, Diana, told us the history of the lagoon and the torches stand for each century. There are 20 torches around the lagoon and the one in the middle of the globe makes 21. The globe tells a story as well from the beginning of the earth starting with water, then land animals, and finally airbourne animals. It really added to the experience.
Finally we went down to UK Lochside and everything was amazing! The view is beautiful from there and the setup they did for us was spectacular! I had wine straight away and the bartender took one look at me and said "white wine?" He knew there was no way I would drink red wine in that dress!! Everybody settled down at their tables and I was pleased to see our families mingling on their own.
And now everyone's favorite, food porn!! Our menu included freshly baked cookies, brownies, fresh fruit, and ice cream with all the toppings you could ever want! We chose the "Celebration" menu and added 4 bottles of wine (2 red, 2 white).
One of the hosts came over to me and asked if my dress was the Alfred Angelo Cinderella dress? I said yes and she said that some guests at the tables overlooking UK Lochside were wondering if I would come and model it!! Jason and I walked up there only to find a huge group of Disney/Alfred Angelo employees!! What a coincidence!! They took pictures and asked if they could use them in promotional materials and social media. Um, YES! I gave Robert my email address and he laughed at the "waltsentme" alias! They were all so nice and made our night even more magical. I felt like a celebrity!! He emailed me the next day for some additional info which I provided promptly. Which reminds me, I owe him an email with the professional photos...
Robert took this picture and emailed it to me:
We had a great time at the dessert party. We talked with all of our guests and everyone raved about the food!!
Emma wanted to get a better look at the sparkles in my skirt :)
Right before the show started, Jamie handed out "Mickey Vision" glasses. They made it look like mickeys were surrounding each light! What a nice surprise! I have read SO many trip reports including Illuminations Dessert parties and I have never seen this mentioned. I'm not sure if it's something new or other people didn't want to spoil the surprise :P
When the show started, everyone sat on the benches. I could hear them all gasping and saying "wow this is so beautiful!" I cried through the whole thing, from beginning to end. All I wanted was for all of our guests to have a good time and seeing all of their smiling faces pleased me to no end. I thought about all the stress and drama leading up to the wedding and I cried tears of relief and happiness that it all turned out beautifully. I married the man I love at the happiest place on earth. I was so completely happy and relieved in that moment that the tears flowed freely. It was the perfect end to the perfect day.
We go on
Through the joy and through the tears
We go on
To discover new frontiers
After the show ended, I handed out the personalized cake bags that I had purchased so everyone could take leftovers. I am SO glad i did this because we hardly made a dent in the cookies and brownies! I actually wish i had filled up the ziploc bags too. We left a lot of food there. Plus, our guests really enjoyed being able to take home leftovers! I think I filled up about 4 bags and some cookies did make it home although I polished them off quickly :) They were delicious!
Then it was time to say goodbye. We were escorted out by Jamie again and again passersby applauded and wished us well as we walked back to France from UK Lochside. It was just the most magical memory I've ever made in Walt Disney World. The dessert party was definitely the highlight of the day! It was the perfect way to end the most magical day of my entire life.
And there's even more to come including the entire honeymoon where I met many of my online friends and our Bridal Portrait Sessions at the Magic Kingdom and EPCOT! Stay tuned!
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