Our Walt Disney Fairytale Wedding (Series): August 4th: The Rehearsal

All sorted out, we waited for everyone else to arrive for the
rehearsal and check into their own Yacht Club rooms for the
night that we’d booked for them. Having everyone on site for the wedding meant no travelling in the morning.I was pretty excited when I booked that we
would all be in the same hotel, I had visions of us all sitting outside
by the pool together, or relaxing at Beaches and Cream but of course
this never happened at all.

The view from my balcony as we waited was fantastic as I could watch the entrance to the
hotel…the only time it WASN’T fantastic was when we checked in as I just had a flashback (being an excellent choice of word) about what happened to me…

I was getting changed to go out for our bachelor/ette night and the
bellman arrived with some of our things. I asked Gav to answer and get
our things in and I hid on the balcony in my underwear, thinking the
bellman would hand the cases to Gav as usual and I could come back in.
No….! The bellman marches right past Gavin and up to the window (where I
am hiding) and puts the cases down and I am holding my breath, pressed
against the outside wall so he can’t see me in his peripheral vision.
He finally stops chatting with Gav and leaves, and I breath a sigh of
relief. Until, that is, the man in the balcony below me and to my left
gives me a wave and a wink! I was SO embarrassed! Gav would not stop
laughing! *ohhh, the shame…..*

Anyway, back to the fitting….Dad and I were looking over the balcony….

and I spotted Gavin’s brother in law, waiting for Gavin’s sister…

Me and Dad waited…

…and eventually everyone piled into the room! I waited on the balcony whilst everyone chattered and dropped their bags in.

So, we all headed downstairs, me with my ears on for the first time! This was a momentous occasion for me, my own wedding ears!

Note my niece’s glasses ~ she wore these all of the time because the hot
sun “made her eyeballs burn”. She is English to the bone, we decided ~
everything was too hot, too cold, too breezy, too wet, too dry….

We were about to head to the wedding site, when I realised that Gav had no ears! He had left
his at home in England because his head was too big (sorry Gav, it’s all those brains) So, Dylan and I (whose hand I was holding) ran back into the
Yacht Club shop and bought some for him, telling the cashier that “Uncle Gav needs these for his wedding!”

And so we made our way to the Yacht Club Gazebo because time was
marching on.

Dylan was holding tightly to “Uncle Gav’s” ears.

We arrived there and waited for a little while for Diane, our Wedding Planner and Co-Ordinator. My nephew was wearing the ringbearer shirt I had made for him!

Loki on his dad’s head, having fun!

Finally Diane arrived but there was no sign of Rev. Miller! After a
little while longer she suggested we do the walk through and someone
would try and get hold of Rev. Miller for us.

So we got started! I’m a little sad because I bought lots of big gift
ribbons to make a ribbon bouquet with but there was no time and so they
went home, unused (although I tie one to each child in my class’s chair
when it’s their birthday and then love it).

Gav’s parents walked down, then Mum and Dave walked down, then I jumped
into action with my camera ~ I think I was over excited before and fell
asleep!

Gav makes his way down the aisle whilst Andrea and Baby Sam look on… Gav wore his Stitch Groom shirt I made for him.

Diane in the far right, whilst Garth, the best man (and Gav’s brother) goes next!

Andy…

Then Diane came to talk to me and dad.

Happy we knew what was going on, we stepped off! I held my dad’s arm but
I knew on the day I wanted to hold my Dad’s hand. It was like my last
day of being his little girl. Dad has been through some hard
times in his life. I know he’s
proud of me, but he never tells me. He tells everyone else, but not me.

No one else aside from Gavin and I knew that there would be a coach (THE coach) and
so Diane did a lot of cover-up for us. She was brilliant.

We arrived at the altar and Diane congratulated everyone on a swift
rehearsal. We had a quick chat about the seating and that was it! No Rev. Miller required.

As we were finishing, people were asking us what we had planned to do
next and we said that we were in a bit of trouble as we needed to get
all of our wedding things over to Franck’s within the next two hours
because they would be needed there. If that had been me who was told
that, I would have asked if I could help take some pressure off. That didn’t happen of course! I was about to cry and I could feel
myself welling up inside.

Gav and I stepped away and Diane came over to comfort us as she could
see I was getting upset; she immediately fixed our problem by whisking the treats away. We headed back into the hotel to get everything whilst Diane went to get
her car ~ and who should we meet but Rev. Miller! He was caught in
traffic and all flustered and we had a quick chat, told him what we were
up to and he tagged along whilst we sorted our things out.

Diane packed her car for us and asked Gav for a word (I found out why on
the day) and I asked what that was, Gav said it was just to make sure
he was okay and knew what he was doing. I actually believed it.

Just before she left, Diane handed us a box, wrapped in a big silver
ribbon. I was so surprised ~ it was the watches!

We said our goodbyes to Diane and then we went around to the Gazebo to
find my mum, dad and Rev. Miller all chatting away. My mum and dad had
heard we had problems and came back (they had ducked out to check in
whilst we were trying to figure out what to do) to see if they could
take the things to Franck’s with us.So, we all chatted together. I LOVED Rev. Miller. Just adored him. He
is the most warm and wonderful, welcoming person ever. I cannot say
enough things about him. He made our wedding so fantastic. I had worried as Gavin is not religious and I had wanted a
service that Gavin would mean something to Gavin. So, I
spoke with Rev. Miller and he was able to include everything we wanted
and more.

Do you see how big Gav’s head is, compared to the size of the Groom’s hat?

Whilst we were chatting to him, we found out that KERRY VON ERICH went
to his services! I’ll bet that most of you on here have no idea who
that is. He used to go by the name of “The Texas Tornado” and from the
age of about 9 until forever, I was his greatest fan, I like to think. I even used to
want to be a WWF Wrestler because of him when I was young, much to my mum’s horror.
Anyway, I was awestruck ~ what a SMALL World! I felt like I had met my
childhood hero! Rev. Miller was laughing away with us and time flew by.

In case you have no idea who the “Texas Tornado” was, here he is in all his glory. He died sadly.