Thursday, March 17, 2016

My Best Friend's Wedding!

The first weekend of March was the start of "wedding season" for me, if you will. Before I left for Canada, I had a total of 4 weddings this year. April's in March in Florida, Heather's in June in New Mexico, Stephanie's in October in Miami, FL and Olivia's 6 days later after Stephanie's in NY (luckily local!) I got a postcard "Save the Date" for my friend Jeannette's wedding before I left for Canada and it's this year too! Holy cow. Her's is in December. Doesn't anyone get married on a SATURDAY anymore?! I guess I am finally at that age where it's all weddings. And soon it'll all be babies.

So April's wedding was the first. She has been my best friend since 6th grade when we were stand partners for flute in band. When she met Tim in Florida, I was so happy for her because she really didn't have that many friends our age at her job (she is a journalist) and they had a lot in common. When they got engaged, I was elated. And she asked me to be her maid of honor. I said yes without a doubt in my mind.

I flew out Thursday night, less than 48 hours after I got back from Canada. I am glad I made that decision because NY got some snow on Friday morning and one of the other bridesmaids sat on her plane at JFK Airport for 1.5 hours before it took off! #reasonswhyihatesnow

Friday morning, April, her mom and I went to get our nails done. This was the weather when we were leaving:
Y'all, I was in SNOW PANTS and 10 degree weather on MONDAY that week and on FRIDAY, I was in 75+ degree weather and SHORTS! What an extreme weather change!

After we got our nails done, we went back to the house to wait for April's cousin Abby who was a bridesmaid. Tim went to get Laura at the airport (the other bridesmaid) and would meet us at the Grand Floridian hotel. Why? Because Tim's sister-in-law and his brother let us use their guest passes to get into the Magic Kingdom for FREE! April and Tim are passholders so they don't need to buy a ticket but it would've been over $100 for each one of us to get a ticket. We only had a few hours at the Magic Kingdom but it was so much fun!

April made fast pass reservations for us so our three fast passes were for Haunted Mansion, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and Pirates of the Caribbean. I know I didn't go on Pirates or Haunted Mansion when I was at Disney in July with my family so I was super excited! We were also able to throw in some other rides/stops like Mickey's Philharmagic and Carpets of Aladdin!

That darn crane!







Happy couple!



Laura ordered these shirts for us and I got one for Tim (and a matching one for April) to wear on their honeymoon in a few weeks! They're going on a Disney cruise


Love these girls!


Carpets of Aladdin



We also caught the castle projection show where they did all different scenes from Disney movies on the castle. So cool! It made me want to come home and watch all the Disney movies I have. I should get on that!


Maid of honor & Bride! 



Fireworks! 



We also caught the Main Street Electrical Parade. We got a spot in the front!






 Saturday was the rehearsal lunch at The Wave, a restaurant in The Contemporary Resort followed by the rehearsal. After the rehearsal, we checked into our room at The Grand Floridian!! Again, Tim's brother & sister-in-law gifted them a night at the Grand Floridian. Well, 2 nights. Tim stayed the night at another hotel and the girls stayed there together. What a luxurious hotel!


Love that sign! 




There was a lot of confusion about things on Saturday night when we were suppose to go see Bob Jackson at Port Orleans Riverside, another resort (I stayed there in July!). Laura and I ended up taking Tim and then Abby and April met us there later.

Side note: I was getting my French CST results this weekend I am made myself a promise that I wouldn't open them until Monday because I didn't want it to ruin my weekend. I was hoping I passed because it was the third time I took this freaking test and it was so hard. I was stupid and opened the email this weekend. Yup, did not pass again. So needless to say I drowned my sorrows. I am determined to pass it though!



Afterwards, we went back to the hotel and I gave April a gift I had been working on for MONTHS. I got this gift idea on Pinterest (what did we do before that site?!). It was a scrapbook called "Letters to the Bride." I had her parents write one, her bridal party, our friend Katie that she lived with and ended it with one from Tim. In it, I included pictures and her reaction was worth all the time and effort that was put into it!

We went to sleep but not before singing "Going to the chapel" and probably annoying the people next door to us. #weweretoexcited

We woke up at the ungodly hour of 5am. April was getting her hair done by Disney and the hair stylist was coming to our hotel room at 6am....or so we thought. She showed up at 6:45. I inhaled coffee until it was an appropriate time to start drinking mimosas.





April's beautiful dress hanging on the hanger I got her. 

Getting ready! The robe I am wearing was in our bridal bag from April. I got her the bride robe she is wearing not knowing she got us these! (She had a white one to match). 


 I took so many selfies this weekend/mirror pictures. #whoami



My best friend  for the last 17 years! <3


She's my person.



It was such beautiful weather outside that we took pictures outside! 
Me, Abby, Laura


April and her parents

Their first dance was to "Tale as Old as Time" from Beauty & The Beast but an instrumental version. So cute!

April and her dad danced to "Because You Loved Me" by Celine Dion. Towards the end, they invited her mom out on the floor and it was so touching.




The cake

 Then, Mickey and Minnie came! They came, danced, and helped cut the cake!

29 years old and I am the biggest Disney nerd! 

Friends since high school! 

Love this couple! <3 so honored to have been part of their day! 


One of my favorite pictures from that day. We were walking from our room to go take pictures and we were just so happy. 


I cannot wait to see their full length video. Their videographers, Trinity Wedding Cinema, did a FANTASTIC job with their sneak peek and you can see me crying (or trying not to cry any harder) in the video...plus dancing like a fool! 

Fantastic wedding for my best friend!....and I am done traveling until June!




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