TLC, The Wedding, and the Honeymoon (long)

Hi all,

Figured I'd give you the scoop and the behind the scenes of everything, so here goes....

THURSDAY

We were due to meet up with the TLC production crew Thursday (1/29), at 11am in Busch Gardens (a local theme park centered around the theme of darkest Africa, with rides, a safari trek, and of course, beer, hehe...) Earlier that morning (about 6am) we drove to the castle (about an hour away, and then another hour back) to drop off some stuff for the wedding. We did that, then went to an eye exam, so I could get my contacts back before the wedding, etc. Just barely made it to Busch Gardens in time.

So, we meet the crew (which were all extremely nice), and start getting miked up (the portable clip on kind), and they have us repeat many little things they think will be interesting on the show. That felt a little weird, as well as having people around us wondering who the hell we were, etc. but still kinda cool... They have us go on two different roller coasters...(no biggie, except that they happen to be my two least favorite ones, hehe....as they both jar me around alot...) Of course though, for different angles we rode each twice in a row, hehe... But luckily, we just felt a little queasy, not bad.... All this time, we're lead by a personal guide of the park. Next, we got to go in a safari truck, and feed the giraffes. THAT was an amazing experience... They are really HUGE.... You just can't appreciate it seeing them on tv, etc. Being right up to a 16 foot tall animal, is really something, and to be petting it's neck is unreal... We were feeding them all kinds of plants, and learning a lot about them.

Then, soon after this, we leave for Medieval Times in Orlando (about a two hour drive there, and another two hours back). Well, we DID pick the spot, hehe... It seemed perfect for our theme, and the bridal party really got a kick out of it. We got real VIP treatment (just as we did for Busch Gardens), and I got to be knighted by the king before the show, and Wendy was made a princess. We sat in the best seats in the house, even got souvenir golden goblets. It also was in the winning knight's section. Wendy would always be picked to get the knight's flower, or other token, etc. so that was neat. Still, made for a very long day....

FRIDAY

Interview day. They interviewed Wendy first, and I had to kind of make myself scarce upstairs... I'm just glad we had time to clean house before all of this.... Her interview lasts about 3 hours (amazing when you consider on the average show, they only have about 10 minutes for BOTH interviews...editing). Mine goes for about the same, and we barely make it to the rehearsal dinner on time, at the Maid of Honor's house.

Then, we get the blow that Wendy's father backs out of the rehearsal, and likely the wedding. He just pulled this 180 all of a sudden, and didn't want to do it. Nevermind that we've spent the last 5 months rebuilding their relationship...but that's another story entirely.... Suffice to say, she was crushed, and didn't take this well at all. Still, we pushed on, and got through the rehearsal, including a complicated ritual ceremony, and bridal party dance (the one from A Knight's Tale)....

Unfortunately, the forecast for Saturday, was looking grim. It had gone from sunny, to an all out rainstorm...ALL DAY. I quickly scrambled to get a tent rented and set up at the castle. TLC even offered to comp the rental company some advertising, but they refused, and wanted the cash....(idiots...the advertising was worth far more than the rental fee).

SATURDAY

Day of the Wedding. It was cloudy, and rainy all day...saving the best rain for the time of the ceremony... Well, one of the groomsmen and I went to pick up the cake from my mom (who as some may remember, is a professional baker). The shop is "A Better Cheesecake" (check them out at abettercheesecake.com). Anyhoo, the cake was in 10 different boxes (it was one hell of a cake), and took up nearly all of the van's floorspace (with all of the seats out). I had to put our suitcases for the honeymoon on the roof rack, hehe... Then of course, I had to drive it an hour to the castle. Well, the cake made it intact.

Then, we started setting up things, decorations, centerpieces, etc. We then get word that all the girls are going to be late (the other groomsmen are at the castle by now)... The girls will get there about when the ceremony should be starting. Well, some of the girls had duties such as guestbook, etc, so we scramble to assign groomsmen and ushers to tasks. We also set up a quick covering to keep the guestbook station dry (which the wind later nullifies....) We get a decent turnout, but many didn't make it due to weather, getting lost, etc. Still, about 75% make it (of course, I still paid for the other 25%.....):shk: At least we got good presents....

I'm sure most guests didn't hear a lot of the ceremony due to the rain. It was also cold for most as well...(unheard of in Florida most of the time...but on our day...of course). Still, our guests were real troopers, and the ceremony went off pretty good (even if one of the groomsmen, did forget our dog's costume....)

The reception went well, despite some missing elements the DJ missed (most due to weather concerns, but still missed). Don't get me wrong, the DJ did an otherwise phenomenal job, and many guest commented as such, but WE knew what was missing. Our dance went off well, and amazed quite a few, and everybody had a really good time. The cake looked amazing all put together, and my mother even had a special surprise ornament of blown glass with a knight and lady on top of one of the castle parts.

The food was great (guests could choose from prime rib or lasagna) and I was surprised how many were actually in costume. They say rain is supposed to be good luck....at least that's something. Still though, everyone had a good time.. I'll do some followups on this thread for the honeymoon days...if I haven't bored you to tears already, hehe....

forget the rain and all the little things that went wrong, your wedding sounds amazing....except for having to ride the roller coasters twice at least that didn't happen.

all those little things that happened, will help make your wedding even more unforgettable for you and mrs Gazrok. let us know when TLC will broadcast it, I'll watch. congrats again.

Thanks...

Well, I'll continue some on the wedding.... Our ring bearer and flower girl, were both young girls...one, the daughter of a bridesmaid and groomsmen, the other al almost stranger, who is a friend of the daughter...(she filled in at the last minute, as our original ring bearer wasn't allowed to attend...again, another long story). Anyhow, they were dressed as fairies, complete with wings, etc.

I was wearing a black leather doublet, with blue tooled leather dragons, over a black chemise, and black slashed pants, with blue brocade in the slashes....with black leather cavalier boots. I had a cavalier hat with blue, black, and purple feathers, as well as an ornate black velvet horseman's cloak, with purple silk lining.

Wendy simply took my breath away when I saw her come down the aisle.... She had a silver and jeweled tiara, elegant veil with rhinestones, and her dress was better than I even imagined, made of white velvet, and white brocade with crystals embedded, and a long matching train....

The groomsmen all had matching tabbards with my family crest (though colored to match the wedding), as well as cavilier hats, and assorted ren outfits...

The bridesmaids wore identical ren style dresses, with theirs being blue, and the maid of honor's purple, but even a little more ornate....with brocade in the center.

Everyone looked great, despite dealing with some rain...

On to the Honeymoon!!!

SATURDAY NIGHT

I carried her over the threshold of course... We were both so exhausted from the day, we pretty much zonked out.... We'd been going since about 6am that morning... That was the reason we had the room for two nights...we knew we'd be tired. The room was really nice (The Americinn, was the hotel), had a big hot tub jaquzzi and all, and french doors leading to the bedroom...nice suite.

SUNDAY

I woke up early, and went out to get some surprises. I returned with a dozen long-stemmed red roses in a vase, some strawberries, some chocolate fondue, nice big cocktail shrimp, and some of her favorite candies (truffles and Toblerone). I also had some good champagne chilling in the ice bucket, with our glasses all ready to go... Needless to say, she was quite surprised when she got up.... As for the rest of the day.... [CENSORED]

MONDAY

We checked out, and then drove to Orlando. We went ahead and checked into The Royal Palms Resort... We've stayed there in the past, and often enough at the various Loews hotels to get all kinds of free perks...including some VIP treatment. Since we originally had some issues, the general manager himself checked us in...and gave us his number if we needed anything...

We then went to Arabian Nights for dinner.... Great show...during a lull, I snuck out on a supposed "bathroom break" and bought her some Breyer's Unicorns (they're model horses, that she's loved since a child), and surprised her with those. When we got back to the hotel room, we had some champagne chilling, and some chocolate dipped strawberries on a platter (all courtesy of the hotel manager)... That was all real nice, as was the rest of the evening...

TUESDAY

The beginning of the theme park marathon. We had 4 day, 4 park passes for all of the Disney parks, and already had 3 year passes for Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure. We decided to do Disney during the weekdays, as the lines would be less, and we had express pass priveledges at Universal/Islands already, to deal with the weekend crowd. I hadn't been to the Magic Kingdom since 1985 as a kid, so I was really looking forward to going back.

The crowds were really small, being this time of year, and weekdays... We quickly mastered the Fast Pass system anyways though, being theme park vets, and never waited more than 15 minutes in line...for anything, and usually more like 5 to 10 minutes.

Everything was great, and we made reservations for dinner at the restaurant in the Castle. That turned out to be a good decision. All throughout the honeymoon, we had hats that showed we were newlyweds. Knowing this, they put us at a window table, which was strewn with Mickey confetti... We had a great view of the ending fireworks...literally right outside the window. It was extremely romantic, and they even gave us two souvienir glasses with the restaurant name etched in the glass.

Wednesday, etc. next....