How can I put into words the feeling I had when I woke up the morning of the wedding? I was excited, I was calm yet nervous all at the same time, I was giddy, I was emotional, I was a little anxious but mostly I was so happy. It all kept coming at me in big waves. I would suddenly get this urge to laugh and cry and get butterflies all at once. I’ve never experienced this before. It was a feeling I hope to never forget.
I told John that it was finally time to face the music. All of our planning and dreams and wishes were about to happen. Our 16 years of being together and waiting for this day were finally here, hence the nerves. I wanted everything to go according to schedule. I did not expect perfection, but I did not want anything to go wrong. And I mostly wanted us to have a beautiful memorable day and for our guests to enjoy it right along with us. It was kind of a big undertaking.
We woke up on the early side. We slept much better than the previous night (such a better room and more comfortable bed), but were eager to get up and get going. There was no need to rush since we were having a 2pm ceremony. Ana from BeauteSpeciale was due to arrive at 10am and Carolyn Allen’s was coming at 11am with my gown. My sister planned to arrive about 9:30 – 9:45. We were up and taking things at a relaxing pace about 6:45 or so.
One of the first things I did when I got up was to look out our window and take in the gorgeous view we had. To my surprise there was a hot air balloon floating by in the distance. It appeared to be over in the Epcot area as it looked to be floating toward the Swan & Dolphin Hotel. I ran to get my camera to snap a picture. Of course by the time I got it ready, the balloon was just in front of the hotel so it is not as clear as it had been, but you can see it:
Melissa arrived just before Ana and her assistant, Mirabel. My mom and her boyfriend also showed up at the same time as Ana. We were not expecting my mom and Jim, but I think they wanted to stop by on their way back from breakfast. Ana and Mirabel quickly took over the space around the table, the room quickly felt very crowded and before long my mom and Jim worked out their time table for the day with John then headed back to their room.
Since the wedding was a surprise I had not planned on having my mom with us to get ready. I figured she’d want to stay with Jim for the afternoon as he can’t really get around on his own. We did give them the important assignment of getting John to the Swan when it was time and hanging out with him until the ceremony. If my mom had asked to stay with me and my sister, we would have rearranged the plans, but I think she was excited with her task at hand and was looking forward to being surprised.
Ana put curlers in my hair and then had Mirabel get started on my make up. Ana then got to work on Melissa’s hair. We let John hang out with us for a while but made sure he knew that he had to leave before the dress arrived.
Mirabel convinced me to go with some false eyelashes. I had always wanted to try them but was scared they would bother me. My wedding day was probably not the best day to take the risk and try, but I did. When she first put them on, I panicked because they felt very heavy and I thought I would have to take them off. But once the adhesive dried, they were fine and I thought they looked great. She ended up using a lot of bronzer on me,
a lot. I wish I didn’t have so much on. I didn’t really like how it looked. I honestly thought I looked like a dead person all made up pretty for her wake. My eyes were great and the coloring of the rest of my make up was nice, but that bronzer was just a bit much for me. I was hoping that it would not be so noticeable in the pictures, but I do see it in quite a few of them.
Melissa and I switched off with Ana and Mirabel. I was aggravated with myself because I forgot to print out pictures of the hair styles I picked. I had done my research and even found a few hair pictures that Ana had done, but I totally dropped the ball and forgot to print and bring them with me. I had to describe what I wanted. She did a nice job and was very insistent that I be honest with her and not be afraid to tell her anything I did not like. I did have her fix up the back a little as I didn’t think the up-do part looked all that curly – I thought it looked kind of messy. She fixed it up and put in the veil.
In the end I was happy with the girls. They did a beautiful job with Melissa and a nice job on me. They made us feel very comfortable. They did quality work. Our hair and make up lasted all day and all night. I was mostly disappointed with myself for not doing a little more research on the bronzer or to look in a mirror while Mirabel was applying the make up to stop her when I realized that I did not like so much bronzer. And I was disappointed that I forgot my hair pictures. Ana did a nice job with the over all style, but I wanted more of a design with the up-do part in the back, and the front a little more evened out (my hair went off to the side – which I wanted – but the short side kind of went straight back, and the long side went down and back). It was kind of weird. But like I said, I was still happy – I looked finished, I looked like a bride, I looked close to my vision and I was enjoying myself. I was not going to sweat the small stuff!
As for a vendor review (I will go back and summarize my vendor reviews if I ever finish this thing), I would give Beaute Speciale a B+. I’m not going to give anyone A+++++++++++, etc. I want to be more realistic and helpful to any future brides out there. I thought they were professional, experienced and offer a very convenient service. They fill you up with extra lip gloss, make you water proof, and make sure you have plenty of hair spray. I would definitely recommend them.
Some pictures of Ana, Mirabel, Melissa & me:
). I should have it posted soon.
Beautiful pictures.
the way the arch turned out. Totally unique. I am so SO SO happy that everything turned out so beautifully. 
