Be My Guest

The menu!

Ever since I was a little girl I've always wanted to step inside the world of Beauty and the Beast.  It's been a dream of mine since I was six and now, at the ripe age of twenty-seven, I have lived my dream. 

The Be Our Guest restaurant opened at Disney World's Magic Kingdom on November 17th.  Chris and I went within the first week of it opening and I could not have been more excited!  The woman who took us to our seats was laughing at how giddy and in awe of everything I was.  Yep, I am that adult who acts like a five year old child at Disney.  And I am not ashamed.

When you walk up to the restaurant doors you see a beautiful stained glass window that depicts the first part of the Beast's story.  The double doors open as you approach them and you walk into a huge entry way (no pictures, sorry!).  My mouth dropped open at this point, everything was beautiful!  As you step into the dinning room you realize that you've actually stepped inside the Beast's grand ballroom.  There are no words to describe just how gorgeous it is.  It looks exactly like I always dreamed it would.

There was a cute little sign for the restaurant on  an
archway that was connected to the bridge that led
you up to the front doors of the restaurant!

Since we ate when it was dark out I had to go back and get some
of these photos.  This was the front door that led you into the entry way.

The stained glass window!  If you've watched the movie as many
times as I have, you'll know what part these pictures are from!

This was inside the entry way on the left hand side.
It was beautiful!  If you can't tell, I was really really excited!

The West Wing was off to the right side of the ballroom and there was also a room where the Beast waited for you to finish dinner so he could greet and take a picture with you.  On the far side of the ballroom was a wall of windows that framed the mountains in the distance.  On the ceiling were not one, but three chandeliers as well as the painting of angels from the movie.  There was also a second floor to the ballroom that was probably all for show but very visually appealing.

I don't think I paid much attention to Chris at dinner.  I was
too busy taking everything in!

Chris and I swear that we will go back and eat at this restaurant again.  The food was delicious!  We both had strip steak with assorted vegetables and fries.  We also got a bottle of wine (the only restaurant at the Magic Kingdom that serves alcohol) and also decided we had just enough room left in our stomach's to eat a dessert.  Since I have a food allergy, I am never sure if I can have dessert at a restaurant and usually steer clear of it.  But, Chris and I decided to ask about it anyway and we found out that I can have the dessert at this particular restaurant (score!).  We ordered a strawberry cupcake and devoured it in less than two minutes.  I'm pretty sure we were a little drunk off the wine and on a food high when we left.  

Delicious, delicious food and wine!

This is the only picture I took of the castle.  I know, I know.  Shame on me!
But at least it has the fireworks behind it. Do I get bonus points for that?!

Four Seasons of Marriage: Summer Picture Update

Do you remember my post last week about seasonal pictures the first year of marriage?  If not, you can find it here.

Our original idea was to buy pirate hats and have the picture taken at Magic Kingdom while wearing them.  We thought it would be such a cute picture because it would represent us getting engaged in front of the Pirates ride last summer.  But once we got to the park and started looking at the hats we couldn't find any that we liked.  It was fun trying them on though and laughing at how ridiculous we looked though!  I only wish that I had snapped a picture of Chris wearing Jack Sparrow's hat.  Now that was a sight to see!

Chris took the picture, that is why it is blurry! 

Since the Pirate idea was a bust we decided that maybe hats just weren't in the cards for the summer picture.  Since Chris was sick before we left (you can read about that here) he wasn't able to get a haircut so he was wearing his favorite Long Beach hat around the parks.  I figured that our summer picture would look better if he was wearing his "normal" hat and I was wearing nothing on my head.  I also figured that our fall picture is going to be something really fun (hats included!) so it would be okay to not wear a hat this time around.

When we got to Epcot on Sunday we were on the lookout for a photographer to take our picture in front of the ball.  I don't know if they were on their lunch break or what but we couldn't find anybody!  So Chris decided that we'd take the picture ourselves and see how it turned out.  These are the two that came out:

Picture One

Picture Two

Personally, picture number two is my favorite.  

After walking around for an hour or so we found a cast member that was taking pictures.  He was so funny and extremely nice so I felt completely at ease as he snapped away on the camera.  Usually the photographers snap them quickly and are done but he was taking his time.  I looked up the Disney Photopass Pictures online and took a picture of them with my phone.  They're a little bit blurry but you'll get the general idea.

My initial thought was that I liked the ones that were taken by the cast member because all of the pictures will look uniformed when I finally hang them on the wall after our one year anniversary.  But I also really like the ones Chris took on his iPhone.  

So, once again readers, I need your help!  Which picture do you like best?  Help me decide!

A Disney-Filled Weekend

There is something you need to know about me:
I LOVE bragging about my husband.

I'm not saying that everything is perfect every hour of every day but I will give him credit when it is due.  And he definitely gets major points for this weekend.

Last month we decided to use our annual Disney passes and go for a quick visit.  We'd leave on a Friday in September and come back on Sunday giving us just enough time for a few rides, good food, and lots of fun.  But when he came home from work on Friday, we were thrown a curve ball that neither of us saw coming.  Chris was sick.

At first we thought his allergies were acting up and a little medicine would do the trick.  But we later found out that he had a fever, cough, sore throat, and runny nose.  Not a good way to start off our trip.  But we still decided to pack up the car and drive 13 hours down to FL.

We got there at 10am the following morning and checked into our hotel right away.  The plan was to take a nap and then get up, get a shower, and go to the parks.  Poor Chris was feeling horrible by this point that I let him sleep a little longer then we planned to see if that would help.  It didn't.  He was pretty miserable all day but boy was he a trooper.  The Magic Kingdom was open until 11pm so we figured that if we got there around four o'clock in the afternoon and left around eleven we'd still get a solid seven hours to ride all of our favorite rides.

The park was all decorated for Halloween with banners and Mickey pumpkins around every corner.  We were really hoping that The Haunted Mansion was decorated as The Nightmare Before Christmas (like at Disneyland) but we were disappointed to find out they don't do that in Florida.

Since the park was moderately packed we were able to ride everything we wanted to with an average wait time of about twenty minutes.  We also tried to get a peak at the new Fantasyland but you couldn't really see too much because of the large walls blocking the progress.  It was fun to try to guess what we thought they were building and then find out we were right!

The next day we got up and went straight to Epcot.  Every time we go we eat in China because they don't fix the food in peanut oil, which means this is the only time in my entire life that I can have Chinese food!  The orange chicken is delicious.

We were so surprised at how empty the park was!  It was a little warmer on Sunday and I ended up getting sunburned (stupid eczema medicine...) but it was still one of the nicest days I've ever spent at Epcot.

We ended up getting our pictures taken in front of the ball, rode all of our favorite rides, and then left to head back to Magic Kingdom to ride Pirates one last time.

Chris was such a trooper.  I usually don't like to brag publicly (because he'll have proof of what I've said) but I really have to give him credit.  Even though he had a fever and probably wanted nothing more than to be asleep in a bed, he let me drag him around the park for some fun in the hot Florida sun.  Luckily the nyquil seems to have knocked the worst of whatever he had out of him and now he's just left with a cough.  Let's just hope I don't end up getting what he had.    

Last, but not least, here are a few of my favorite pictures from the trip.  Enjoy!

There was barely anyone at Epcot.  We were
trying to get a picture of us with the ball in the
background but failed.

The Finding Nemo ride is one of our favorites! 

Probably my favorite picture from the trip! 
We were waiting in line for Pirates the first night!

He was excited for Philar Magic!

Panoramic with the new iPhone.  The sunset was gorgeous!

We love Michael Jackson!

So cute in his 3-D glasses.  :-)

Four Seasons of Marriage

I came across a pin on Pinterest a while back of a newly married couple who took photos every season the first year they were married.  I fell completely in love with the idea and started scheming of ways to make it work for me.

Chris and I are Disney people.  I'm pretty sure that by now everyone knows that about us though.  We go at least twice a year, got married there, and now have annual passes.  Since we're pretty much obsessed, I thought it would be really cute to do our four pictures at the Disney Parks. And since we've spent a lot of time there this year, the idea just fit.

First I had to look up what days the seasons started on, just to make sure I could make this project happen.

Spring: March 20, 1:14 a.m.

Summer: June 20, 7:09 p.m.

Fall: September 22, 10:49 a.m.

Winter: December 21, 6:12 a.m.

We have our wedding photos that were taken in April so that could be our Spring photo.  But, Chris and I did not go during the extremely hot summer months so I'm going to have to be a little creative with this one.

Since Chris and I are leaving Friday night (the 21st) for Disney, I'm hoping that traffic will be light and we'll be able to get to the parks early Saturday morning.  My goal is to run in, take the picture, and then go back to the hotel for a bit.  I'm hoping that works out the way I want it too!

But, I want to do something cute for the picture.  In our spring photo we're wearing the Bride and Groom Disney hats, and I was thinking that maybe we could wear different hats in each picture.  However, those hats cost at least $20 a person, even more if you get them personalized (which I want to do!).

My question is, what should I do?  I've found some really cute ideas on Pinterest but I can't pick which one I like the best!  Can you help me decide?

Buy regular ears and get our names (or the word newlyweds)
embroidered on them?

Put this on the front or back of a t-shirt? 

Buy Pirate hats!  This would be cute since we got
 engaged in front of the Pirates ride! 

I'd never wear a sweatshirt when it is 80 degrees
out but this would be cute on a t-shirt!

We already have these hats but we could always bring them again
and get our names put on them...

I need some help deciding because they're all such cute ideas!

Vacation on a Budget: Walt Disney World

When Chris and I were on our honeymoon we had an idea for the blog.  We've been to Disney World (and Land) at least once or twice a year since 2009.  Wouldn't it be fun if we did a mini series on the best times to go, what to do while you're there, and where to stay?

A lot of people think a trip to Disney World is an expensive luxury, and sometimes it can be.  But if you know the right times to go, when to look for deals, and where to stay you could end up saving hundreds of dollars!  And who doesn't like saving that kind of money?

So, stay tuned for future posts from Chris and I.  We can't wait to share all that we know with you!

At Hollywood studios with my family!

    

I Got a New Last Name!

April 20, 2012

I've just realized that I never did a proper update (with pictures) from our wedding.  Many of the people who read my blog come from facebook so I know that you've already seen the massive amount of pictures I posted (sorry about that.  I couldn't choose my favorites so I posted them all!).  But, I hope that you will forgive me for displaying them again and end up enjoying the story behind them!  So...here we go!

The night before the wedding my sister's and I stayed at the Contemporary Resort at Disney (you can walk to the Magic Kingdom park it's so close).  Sam will be the first to tell you that she absolutely loved the rooms, especially the pillows on the beds (ha!).  The guys stayed over at the Pop Century Resort (where both of our families were) and I'm actually not positive if they did anything together.  They all did come over to our room to watch the fireworks at the Magic Kingdom (we had a perfect view from our room!), but after that they left and I have no clue what they did.  The pictures of the girls were taken in our room at the Contemporary and the boys pictures were taken at the Wedding Pavilion.  

The next set of pictures are from our ceremony.  I was really scared it was going to rain that day, but we lucked out and had beautiful sunny weather for our ceremony.  Unfortunately, the weather was not so nice for the bride who got married after us.  

I wasn't nervous at all beforehand.  In fact, I just really wanted to go in the chapel and get married.  As soon as the doors opened and I saw Chris everything else disappeared.  We were both just so excited and happy that nothing else mattered.  He also told me later he was really glad I was laughing throughout the ceremony (when I'm excited I tend to giggle a little bit!) because that kept him from crying.  It really was the most perfect day.

 

The next few sets of pictures were taken after the ceremony ended.  They consist of our family and some portraits of Chris and I.  Chris's favorite (of us) is the bottom left out of the four pictures on the left hand side.  You can see the castle behind us and it almost looks like a painting instead of a picture.  Pretty cool!

I'm going to leave you with these last few sets of pictures.  They're from our time at the Grand Floridian Resort and Spa where we ate our cake, danced, and of course...took more pictures!  You can't tell from these pictures but Sam started crying during her speech (which in turn made me cry...thanks, Sam!), and Greg wrote his speech on his android phone (gotta love technology).  All three speeches were very sweet and we definitely felt the love in the room!

Disney provided us with an awesome violinist that played our first dance song (the theme from Beauty and the Beast) and serenaded us with lots of other great tunes!  My favorite was when he played the theme from Pirates of the Caribbean (it couldn't have anything to do with the fact Chris and I got engaged in front of that ride, could it?  ha!) and Sam loved that he played "My Heart Will Go On" from Titanic (yea...I felt like it was a little depressing too...).  Oh...and I didn't ask him to play the Titanic song; Sam did.  It's her favorite movie. 

Anyways.  Enjoy the rest of the pictures!  

Chris's dad (Jim), his brother (Greg), and my sister (Sam) gave the toasts.

All my favorite pictures of Chris and his family

All my favorite pictures of my family

And last but not least, some cute and fun pictures to leave you with!

After Wedding Surprises

When Chris and I decided to get married at DisneyWorld they sent us a list of all the people (marriage license, officiants, hair and make-up stylists, etc) that they work with.  We thought that if Disney recommended them, then all those people must be great.  And we were right for the most part.  Chris and I absolutely loved our Pastor (Kirk Bane) as well as everyone who attended the ceremony.  He's done (I think) around 500 weddings there and said he will keep doing more as long as people will have him.  I had two amazing ladies who did my hair and make-up (they worked for the Disney salon) who were so funny and such a calming presence the day of the wedding.  We honestly couldn't have had better people to work with for our wedding.  Except....

Disney provided us with two choices on how to obtain our marriage license.  We could either go to the courthouse (which we did not have time to do before the wedding), or use an online service (Say I Do Weddings, inc.) that cost us a little more, but we didn't have to change our flights to get to Florida early so we could actually go to the courthouse.

Let me start out by saying that I would never recommend these people to anyone who wants to have a destination wedding at Disney.  They were fine before the wedding because they got all the paperwork to us on time and that was one less thing to worry about.  But Chris and I got married about a month ago and I still don't have the license in my possession.  Every time I call to try to figure out what is going on no one answers the phone.  Once I leave a message, I usually get a call back anywhere between two hours later or the next day (most of the time it's next day).  When I finally get my call back the person on the phone has absolutely no idea what is going on, and I've even been promised things that aren't passed on to the manager so when I talk to her she has no idea what I'm even talking about!

When I called two weeks ago to ask where my marriage license was, I was told that it should already be here and that this wasn't the "norm" for them.  The girl said she would go to the courthouse the next day to get our license and then either UPS or FedEx it to us and would then send me the tracking number.  Last week, Chris called to see what was going on and the "manager" said she had no idea what he was talking about.  We needed the license so Chris could add me to his insurance at work so the girl promised to fax him a copy and then send the other copies to us via mail.  I asked for the tracking number on Wednesday night and it is now Friday and I have only gotten a very short and curt voicemail back from the assistant saying she's going to call her manager to figure out what is going on.  Why even call me if you can't even answer my questions?  

Needless to say we have no idea where it is and I'm having to practice being patient (I'm not so good at it...).  Chris says it's not a big deal because at least we had it for the wedding, but I just can't believe this has been going on for so long.  I just want a straight answer from someone and to know why they're having so many issues getting our license out to us.  I mean, it's been a month already!  Has anyone else had problems like this after the wedding?  Ugh...

Wedded Bliss

For some brides, their wedding day is just one giant stressed out blur.  I've never understood girls who act crazy if something goes wrong on their big day.  I've also never understood brides who think the wedding day is all about them and their husband is just supposed to do nothing but show up.  I always made sure Chris was involved in all the decision making, even if he could care less about the flowers or how the pavilion was decorated.  We were a team and in this wedding planning process together.  Chris and I had fun doing it and we can look back on that time and know that we designed a wedding that both of us were (and are) completely happy with.  

We got married on April 20th at Walt Disney World's Wedding Pavilion.  The night before the wedding I stayed at Disney's Contemporary Resort with my two sisters (who were also my bridesmaids).  We had a perfect view of the Magic Kingdom park from our room so we were also able to watch the fireworks that night as well.  In the picture below you can (kind of) see where we were staying in comparison to the Magic Kingdom and the Wedding Pavilion.

Everything was actually much closer than it looks in this picture!  (Thanks for the photo Shiva!)

The next morning, I had people come to our room to steam my dress as well as two hairstylists to do our hair and make-up.  Everyone was surprised that I had no problems sleeping and that I wasn't anxious or nervous the morning of.  I have to admit that I was soaking in the experience, and enjoying every second of it.  After hair and make-up, my photographers came and started taking loads of pictures (that I can't wait to see in a few weeks!).  We were all enjoying the pictures and I loved hearing how great my dress looked.  Yes, that may be a little conceited but that's okay.  I'm allowed to be that way on my wedding day!  ha!

I actually didn't get nervous until right before I walked down the aisle.  And the only reason I became nervous was because my mom started to get anxious and kept telling me how she was feeling.  (Just a quick note to whoever is walking a bride down the aisle, never tell her you're nervous because that'll set her nerves on edge as well!)  But, once the doors were opened and I saw Chris I forgot everything else.  We had an amazing Pastor (we found him through Disney) who kept me laughing and smiling throughout the ceremony.  I don't really remember what was said (guess I'll have to wait for the video to jog my memory!) but I remember being so incredibly happy and that's all that matters.


After everything was done Chris and I looked at each other and said, "Are we really married?"  Everything went by so fast that we couldn't believe it when it was over!  After eight months of planning, our wedding was over in just a few short hours.  The entire day was perfect and neither of us could've imagined a better way to start the next phase of our life together.

   

Wedding Colors...Revisited

I've been reading a lot of stuff lately about choosing wedding colors, and how they should match the ceremony location.  Here is a picture of the location so you can visualize it:

This is the best picture I could find of the green and pink

 Of course, I've realized now that coral is NOT a good color for this location.  Am I sad?  Of course!  I absolutely love that color, but I also don't want something that clashes with the location and decorations.  After much consideration, I think pink dresses for my bridesmaids would look really great in that room (and on my girls).  Plus...with the receptions we're having (yes...you saw that right.  We are having two different receptions), I can work the coral, and blue with the pink just fine!  So...I'll still get what I want and it will look great!  I'm very happy with the decision and can't wait to go shopping with all of my bridesmaids and buy their dresses!


PS-  I am, of course, always open to suggestions.  So, if anyone has any ideas on what other colors would look nice please leave a comment in the section below.  Also, please keep in mind that David's Bridal only carries certain colors...and here is the website!  Feel free to poke around!

The Happiest Place on Earth

In August, Chris took Sam and I to Disney World in Florida.  I was so excited because I had always loved the look of The Grand Floridian Resort and Spa and we were actually going to stay there!  For those of you that have never been, this resort is a beautiful Victorian style resort that sits right on the water and is across from the Magic Kingdom park.  The monorail comes right to the resort (which makes it easy to get to both Epcot and the Magic Kingdom), as well as a boat!

We had originally planned to stay at the Polynesian Resort (which is located right behind The Grand Floridian), but Chris said there was a computer glitch and they overbooked so they had to move us to a different resort.  For Sam and I, it was worth being overbooked as soon as we arrived because we had our own personal guide (Denny) who was so friendly and extremely informative and helpful!  He took us to our room which was in a completely different building and because we were club level we received free drinks (wine, beer, soda, water, etc) and food (breakfast, snacks, and desserts) on a daily basis.  Sam and I were literally in heaven.

Don't you agree that it is beautiful?

 The first day we took the time to walk around the resort to see what they had to offer.  They had two different pools, a ton of shops inside the resort, a few restaurants, and a nice beach that looked out on the wedding pavilion and the Polynesian and Contemporary Resorts.  That night, we braved the thunderstorm and ran to make our reservation at an Italian restaurant at Downtown Disney.  We were soaked and got a lot of weird looks as we were led to our table, but dinner was delicious and we were all pleasantly buzzed from the great wine as we made our way back out into the rain.

The second day the three of us knew we'd be out really late (extra magic hours for The Magic Kingdom park!) so we tried sleeping in.  I was so excited to get going that I woke up early (9:30) and got everyone else to get up and start their day as well!  I love The Magic Kingdom, maybe its because it reminds me of all the times I went there as a kid and how excited I became whenever I saw one of the many beloved characters.  But I was so excited to go and ride all of my favorite rides.

Two of the rides I always have to go on are Peter Pan's Flight and Pirates of the Caribbean.  Chris convinced us that we should wait to do both until later that night, because the lines are so minimal during extra magic hours.  I kept noticing that Sam and Chris would fall behind and talk amongst themselves, but I just figured they were getting along really well and didn't want to interrupt them.

We arrived!

On the People Mover....I was more excited than Sam!

In line for It's A Small World.  I HATE this ride!

 Chris was trying his best to annoy Sam while waiting to get on Splash Mountain.

Second day of rain....this time we were smart and brought ponchos! 

We waited until midnight and walked over to Pirates, but found out they were closed due to technical difficulties.  Sam and I took off and went shopping while Chris waited for us outside on one of the benches.  We had decided to go back over to the ride around 1:00 a.m. and luckily it was up and running again!  I made a beeline for the line, but Chris took my arm and pulled me aside.  I could not understand what was going on but figured maybe he was letting a big group go by us.  Instead, he put his arms around my neck and began talking about our three year anniversary coming up (in April!).  He said that when Belle met her prince, she didn't realize it until chapter three and he wanted to write many more chapters together.  Then, he pulled out my gorgeous ring and asked me to marry him!  I, of course, said yes!

Chris chose the Pirates ride because it was the first one we had ever gone on as a couple and also our favorite ride at the Disney park.  Once on the ride, we got stuck for forty-five minutes and only got around the corner from the loading dock.  We had to come back a few nights later to actually ride it, but on our engagement night we were able to snap a few pictures!
 

We are so happy and so excited for the next adventure in our lives!

My beautiful ring!  There will be better pictures once I get it back from being sized!

The rest of the trip was a blast!  Of course, nothing could top getting engaged, but we still had a great time!  We spent the rest of the time at Animal Kingdom, Epcot, Hollywood Studios, and even Universal!  Here are a few more picture highlights from our trip!

All aboard the Hogwarts Express!

Walking into Hogsmeade!

We ate at The Three Broomsticks

We may not have gone on the ride inside Hogwarts, but we had fun looking at it from the outside!

Sam-I-Am loves Green Eggs and Ham!

We went to Africa!

The tree of life at Animal Kingdom

That fan was the best (and worst) thing Chris has ever bought.  He liked spraying us with it when Sam and I weren't expecting it.