And...we're off!

Please excuse our "We just woke up" faces...

On the morning of Thursday, October 14, Adam and I hopped on a plane and flew to Orlando. In other parts of the world, our best man Bill and his girlfriend Kali were driving from their overnight stop of Savannah, Georgia to pick us up from the airport. Adam's mom, Susan; dad, Mickey; sister, Allison; and Allison's now-fiance, Josh; were also driving from Savannah en route to Orlando. In the weeks prior to our wedding, Universal switched the date from Saturday to Friday, which meant a whole heap of logistical rearranging. They graciously paid to switch Adam and I's flight to Thursday so we could fly in for our rehearsal. You see, normal weddings have rehearsals. And weddings with camera crews, sound guys and about 30 Universal staff members NEED rehearsals. Despite the logistical mess the date switch initially created, our whole entourage rallied. No one had booked flights but us at the time of the switch, so a few phone calls later, the crisis was averted. Nearly every member of the wedding party was able to drive in on Thursday so they could attend the rehearsal that afternoon. Such troopers!

I remember spending most of our flight to Orlando wondering what the hell I was in for. But I was so, so excited. Adam and I both were. That's the thing about us, we really do roll right along with whatever life throws at us. We were super ready for that weekend. We arrived in Orlando at 1 and met Bill, who then drove us to Universal and dropped us at our swanky hotel. As part of the prize package, we won two nights at one of their onsite hotels. It was GORGEOUS. It was super tropical and very Jurassic Park...before shit goes down.

We rolled our luggage in awe to the check-in counter and told them our names. A note had apparently been made with our reservation, because a second employee immediately popped out from behind the counter and put fabulous, sea shell necklaces on us and welcomed us as VIP guests. It. Was. Awesome.

Rocking the VIP necklace in our awesome room!

Our room was incredible, we had a window overlooking the fabulous pool. I just remember being so psyched that this was happening to me and so excited to get the weekend started. We spent a bit of time unpacking and chatting on the phone with members of our entourage who were en route. We also spent some time touching base with our guests who would not arrive until the next morning.

After we got settled, we freshened up, then walked down from our room to the water taxi that would take us over to the parks. All of Universal's onsite hotels are obviously right on the property, and provide some form of transportation back and forth to the parks. I never thought this was a big deal before, but it was kind of cool to not need a car or worry about parking and have your hotel just across the lake.

Waiting for the water taxi. You can see Doom's tower in
the distance, which is part of Islands of Adventure.

We hopped on the water taxi and enjoyed the ride as it took us over to Citywalk, the section of shops and restaurants between the regular Universal park and Islands of Adventure. Halloween Horror Nights is

held at the regular Universal park, so that is where we were headed. As we rode along, I was aware that at that very moment, Adam's parents and Allison and Josh were heading to the gate and my parents, Keith and Melanie were also headed to the gate. Oh, and Bill, of course! It was such a surreal feeling to think of all these people coming together at Universal Studios to be led to a soundstage where there was sure to be a badass haunted house that we would be getting married in!

One of the last shots of us before we got married!

We got off the water taxi and walked toward the gates. We saw Adam's family right away and greeted them. We were to wait at the public

relations office just outside of the gates for someone from the staff to come get us. Just a few minutes later, I saw my family walking toward us and got super excited. This was actually happening. I guess sometimes it doesn't feel like it's happening until all the pieces of the puzzle click into place. After greetings were exchanged all around, we entered the public relations office and made our presence known.



Next up: We rehearse and realize just how many staff members at Universal are helping us.