The most fantastic, magical things can happen, and it all starts with a wish. - Jiminy Cricket, from "Pinocchio"

Whoa...  What an action packed few days we've had!

It's Tan again, just in case you were wondering...

Since we last left you, we've managed to jam in as much as humanly possible in the space of three days.  We've had a grand total of sixteen hours sleep in three nights (Anh, if you're reading this, I know that you consider that too much sleep, but we're not all superhuman like you are!).  We've gone shopping, gone to theme parks, gotten drunk and of course, the reason why we're here...  Planned our wedding!

These Mickey Ears will be event appropriate in September

After getting back from IHOP on Saturday morning (at about 4am), we crashed for four hours before getting up to go shopping for SIM cards and some essentials.  What we had originally planned to be a quick two hour trip somehow turned into four hours.  We went to Florida Mall only to end up astounded and disappointed.

Astounded because there was a huge line of people in front of the mall.  We took a closer look to see that the majority of people in the queue were teenage girls and some poor parents they dragged there.  We assumed that they were there to see some singer or try out for American Idol.  What is it with a large group of teenage girls?  When one screams, it sets off the others in their vicinity, who then set off more teenage girls who then... etc.  They seemed to scream every time a semi-decent car drove past as well as when I walked near them.

Yep, I've still got it...

No-one could resist this!!

We asked some poor mother what they were there for and to my surprise, she told us that they were all there to see Bethany Mota.  Apparently she is some YouTube sensation who has gained fame by providing fashion advice and designing clothes.  I'm quite impressed that she has been able to establish such a strong following via YouTube.  This does not mean that I didn't want to douse everyone in gasoline and give them each a box of matches to play with.  Maybe next time...

These teeny boppers queued up to see WHO?!?!

Why were we disappointed?  We were disappointed because we were there at 9:30, but the mall opened at midday.  What kind of mall opens at midday??

Anyway, we still needed to get the things we had set out to purchase.  I proceeded to drive around in random directions (remember, we don't have a GPS unit and we needed SIM cards to take advantage of Google Maps) trying to find a T-Mobile, Verizon or telecommunications provider.

It seemed like all stores were closed on this day!  We ended up going to Walmart to find what we needed and as much as I wanted to get a six-pack of shotguns, I didn't want to waste time getting a gun license.

We put that unhappiness behind us, dumped the car back to the car rental place, and proceeded to make our way to Magic Kingdom to hang out and do fun stuff.

I won't go into detail here as I wanted to focus on the wedding planning for this entry.  Just know that we had a great time as usual, and it felt so good just to be back in Magic Kingdom again.  I'm pretty sure I would live here if I could.

After we went to MK, we headed to Downtown Disney where we proceeded to eat bad food and accidentally get drunk.  Yes, accidentally.  We forgot that we hadn't had much sleep so those two margaritas a PB&J (Frangelico, Chambord and Baileys) shot each really messed us up.  We stumbled our way to the bus terminal where we promptly fell asleep waiting for our bus.  We were lucky that we woke up at 1:30am just as our bus was pulling in!

This was me at Downtown Disney after a few drinks...

So it seems like I've written a fair bit in this entry thus far.  Jennie has told me that I should start talking about our wedding planning session.  Here goes...

We got into our room at 2:00am after the bus terminal incident.  Then we woke up four hours later to get ready for our planning session.  We got a taxi to Franck's Studio (the place where you plan the wedding), which is next to the pavilion where Jennie and I are to be married (it still feels weird saying/typing that) where we met the wonderful Joe DeMatei.

We had been in constant communication with Joe for the last six months and it was great to finally put a face to the voice.  I thought Joe would be much taller, but that didn't change my mind about having a Disney Wedding.  Other than that, Joe was as awesome in person as he had been over the phone and over email.  Joe drove us to see our wedding reception location at Epcot and we were taken to the "behind the scenes" entrance!

I would have taken photos of behind the scenes, but this is what would have happened to me.

This entrance gave me an added appreciation for how much time and effort goes into making everything such a great experience.  There were so many people running around!  The sheer volume was such an eye-opening experience.  Everyone knew their roles and executed to perfection.  I was in awe.

For our guests attending the wedding, it is located at Epcot, but the general public is not able to access this venue so you'll be taken there by motor coach and personally escorted to this venue!

We were previously unsure about the location because we didn't think it suited what we were trying to achieve.  I can't speak for Jennie, but the moment we entered the venue, it erased all doubt in my mind.  I think everyone is going to love this venue (or else *shakes fist*).

Our venue.  Don't pay any attention to that horrible, horrible green tablecloth!

Now that we were comfortable with the venue, it was back to Franck's to work on the details of the wedding.  We were assigned our very own wedding planner, Pamela, and her assistant, Nicole (Nicole was filling in for Pamela's regular assistant).  Jennie and I spent the next three hours with Pamela and Nicole picking out linen, cutlery, napkins, flowers, decorations, cake flavours and fillings, table decor, ceremony decor, underwear, baby names, and much much more!

Okay, we didn't pick any baby names - but "Mickey" has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?

I thought I should spend a bit of time talking about the wedding cake tasting.  They brought out a tray full of cake flavours and fillings for us to mix and match and try.  It was a tough decision, but we finally decided on the flavour and filling combination.

CAKE!!!  And fillings...

So many personal touches.  You gotta love Disney's attention to detail

After that, we had a personal tour through the Grand Floridian (the hotel where Jennie and I will be staying for our wedding night), and then got to see the inside of the Wedding Pavilion.  It really validated our decision to have our wedding at Disney World.  I am grateful for this as I had already paid a non-refundable deposit!

We were then driven back to Epcot for our tasting session!  We now know what everyone will be eating at our wedding.  I don't want to give away too much, but here's a little taste of what to expect...

One is eye filet, the other is lobster.  Can you guess which is which?

Our tasting session was held in the catering kitchen at Epcot and was served to us by the head chef, Tony.  We had our very own waiter/server who gave us exceptional service.  We were given seven courses to taste - an appetiser, a salad, three mains (called entrees in the US), and two desserts.

We had to give our approval before they would lock in the menu.  We only changed the food slightly - to cater for our tastes, and to also give our vegan guests plenty of options to eat.  I'm pretty sure that our guests are not going to leave hungry or disappointed.

This was the team that cooked and served our tasting meals.  Sous Chef Tom, Server Todd and Head Chef Tony

At the conclusion of our tasting, we went to Disney's Hollywood Studios to catch the Fantasmic show to wind down after such an awesome night.  It was a great end to such an awesome day.

Thanks for reading again!  I checked our readership numbers before writing this post and it seems like we've got a great following (well, more than I had ever expected - almost 250 readers for our last post!)

Jennie and I are so humbled that you're all reading our blog.  Thank you all!